Carr Counters Democrats' Claims of Corrupt FCC Conduct in Paramount/Skydance Review
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is pushing back against a probe by Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., of the federal government’s review of Skydance's $8 billion purchase of Paramount Global (see 2507290066). Other congressional Democrats have also made corruption claims about the FCC’s July approval of the deal, in part citing Paramount’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 2507250029).
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“There has been a lot of misinformation spread about the FCC’s review of this transaction,” Carr said in a letter to Blumenthal released Tuesday. Carr countered Democrats’ claims about the short time frame between Paramount’s lawsuit settlement and the FCC’s approval of the Skydance deal. “Contrary to some suggestions, the FCC ran a standard review process for this transaction, and I am proud of the agency’s work,” he said. “The FCC spent 251 days reviewing these applications. This timeline is entirely consistent with agency precedent. For instance, the FCC’s recent review of the T-Mobile and UScellular transaction took 254 days, and the agency’s review of the SES and Intelsat transaction took 316 days.”
Carr said the FCC “applied the agency’s ordinary transaction review standard” under Communications Act Section 310(d), which required it “to determine whether the transfer of Paramount’s licenses to Skydance would serve the public interest.” He noted that the FCC “determined that approving this transaction would serve the public interest,” in part because “New Paramount committed to ensuring equal opportunity employment; promoting transparency and fair, fact-based reporting; [and] reaffirming its commitment to localism.”
“I understand there is particular interest in New Paramount’s commitment to unbiased journalism and transparency,” Carr said. The company “will put in place an ombudsman for at least two years. This person will receive and evaluate any concerns of bias involving CBS and will report directly to the President of New Paramount. The leadership of New Paramount will consider these complaints. An ombudsman mechanism is not a new concept for the FCC when it comes to transactions.”