Blumenthal Probes FCC, Paramount on Federal Review on Skydance Deal
Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., launched a probe Tuesday of the federal government’s review of Skydance's $8 billion purchase of Paramount Global amid other Democrats’ corruption claims about the deal (see 2507250029). Meanwhile, the Freedom of the Press Foundation wants the disciplinary body for the D.C. Bar to investigate whether FCC Chairman Brendan Carr violated the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct in his handling of the Skydance/Paramount deal (see 2507290060).
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Blumenthal pressed Carr on Tuesday about the FCC’s deliberations before it approved the deal last week 2-1 (see 2507240079). The lawmaker also demanded that Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone disclose information and preserve records concerning the company’s settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS over its editing of an October 2024 interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris (see 2507020053). Blumenthal set an Aug. 12 deadline for Carr and Redstone to respond. The FCC didn't immediately comment.
“The timing of the FCC’s evaluation and approval of the merger suggests that the agency’s actions were conditioned on payments to the President,” Blumenthal said in his letter to Carr. “The appearance of such a corrupt quid pro quo reeks of a thinly disguised bribe. Moreover, the terms of the FCC’s merger approval once again demonstrate that the FCC is engaged in an unprecedented and illegal campaign to chill free speech and independent news reporting protected by the First Amendment.” Blumenthal in part asked Carr to explain whether he and other commission officials discussed Trump’s lawsuit with the companies or other parties.
Blumenthal told Carr and Redstone the investigation would examine how Trump's and the FCC's actions and the CBS settlement “erode and undermine freedom of speech and freedom of the press and bear on the laws governing mergers and acquisitions of media companies.” Blumenthal voiced skepticism about CBS’ settlement, which Trump recently valued at $36 million (see 2507220070), given its proximity to the FCC’s approval of the Skydance purchase.
“This sequence of events has reportedly led to Paramount’s settlement being ‘widely seen as a capitulation to Trump’ within CBS News,” Blumenthal said in a separate letter to Redstone. “You reportedly told Paramount’s board you favored a settlement to appease the President, in part so that Paramount could secure FCC approval for its merger with Skydance." He noted that the settlement “runs directly counter to Paramount’s earlier assertions in court filings about the lack of merit in” Trump's lawsuit (see 2411010044).