Carr: FCC Will Monitor Post-Merger Paramount and News Bias Commitments
The FCC "will stay in touch" with the post-merger Paramount and track its compliance with conditions the agency placed on Skydance Media's acquisition of Paramount Global, Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday. Skydance Media closed on Paramount Global on Thursday, as expected (see 2507280007).
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Speaking Thursday at the agency's August meeting, Carr said the FCC is "in a trust-but-verify posture" concerning compliance with the deal's conditions. Those conditions include a review of CBS and "any necessary changes" to comply with its public interest obligations, as well as management guaranteeing the newly combined company would offer ideological and political diversity in its news and entertainment programming (see 2507230029).
Carr said that aside from complaints that can be brought to the agency, the bias monitor New Paramount committed to for two years can also be a means of finding out if Paramount's CBS is living up to the conditions. The pending 60 Minutes news distortion complaint before the FCC is another way to monitor and enforce the conditions, he added.
Citing decreasing trust in mainstream media among Americans, Carr said that over the years, the FCC "has stepped back from enforcing the public interest obligations on political broadcasters ... and I don't think that that has benefited the American people."
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez assailed New Paramount. The merged company was "born in shame after trading away fundamental First Amendment principles in pursuit of pure profit," she told reporters. Even if there is news bias to the extent CBS critics claim, Gomez said, "the last entity you would want policing what constitutes bias is the government."
"This will not end the administration's campaign of intervention in media to silence critics," Gomez said.
In a letter to shareholders, New Paramount CEO David Ellison said the goal is to "transform Paramount into a tech-forward company that blends the creative heart of Hollywood with the innovative spirit of Silicon Valley." Paramount will reorganize into three business units -- studios, direct-to-consumer and TV media -- and scale up its use of technology such as AI-assisted localization "that brings shows to new language markets overnight." In addition, Paramount will scale its streaming services "into powerful, profitable global platforms," with increased investment in premium exclusive content, particularly sports.
LiveVideo.AI -- which is challenging Skydance Media's takeover of Paramount Global at the FCC and in federal court (see 2508060007) -- asked the court Wednesday for a temporary restraining order blocking National Amusements from transferring its controlling stake in Paramount. Judge Gregory Woods of the U.S. District Court for Southern New York denied the motion without prejudice, saying the plaintiff hadn't made enough of a showing to justify the issuance of a restraining order ex parte without notice to the defendants (docket 1:24-cv-06290).
LiveVideo.AI CEO Brad Greenspan emailed us Wednesday night that it "would look for relief" at the appellate level if the FCC doesn't act on the company's petitions seeking reconsideration or review of the agency's approval of the Skydance deal.
Mack Toys, which had opposed Skydance/Paramount (see 2502060068), is also petitioning the FCC to reconsider its approval of the deal. Paramount's aggressive enforcement of its trademark of the term "slime" is "suppressing competition in the children's toy market and misusing public airwaves for private gain," the toymaker said Thursday (docket 24-275).