The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday approved an $8 billion merger agreement between media behemoths Paramount and Skydance, a deal that has been overshadowed for months by President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News and allegations of bribery by critics of the massive conglomerate.
The FCC announced its approval of the mega merger late Thursday, with chairman Brendan Carr saying he welcomed “Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Carr said. “It is time for a change.”
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Carr praised Skydance for its written commitment to “ensure that the new company’s programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum.”
“Skydance will also adopt measures that can root out the bias that has undermined trust in the national news media,” the chairman said. “These commitments, if implemented, would enable CBS to operate in the public interest and focus on fair, unbiased, and fact-based coverage.”
Carr has been sharply critical of broadcast news outlets since taking over as Trump’s FCC chair when the president took office and has mocked Democrats and other critics who say the president is attempting to crack down on news coverage of his administration.
The merger’s approval comes just days after Paramount agreed to pay the president’s foundation $16 million to settle a lawsuit he brought against CBS News last year stemming from an interview “60 Minutes” published with former Vice President Harris, which the president argued was edited to cast her in a positive light.
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Carr had previously indicated the Harris interview could have constituted a legitimate “news distortion complaint” and had held up the planned Paramount/Skydance merger.
CBS also canceled “The Late Show” with host Stephen Colbert last week, just days after the comedian accused Paramount on the air of paying Trump a “big fat bribe.”
As part of its promise to the FCC, the new company, which will be known as “New Paramount,” has vowed to “promote transparency and increased accountability” through an ombudsman for a period of at least two years who will report to the president of the company and evaluate complaints of bias, the FCC said.
Skydance, which has no Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in place today, has committed that it will not establish any such initiatives at the new company and confirms that New Paramount will also be committed to equal opportunity employment and nondiscrimination, the commission added.
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And finally, “New Paramount” reaffirmed to the FCC “its commitment to localism as a core component of the public interest standard, and emphasizes that it will work closely with its affiliated broadcast stations to ensure a productive partnership that will strengthen its affiliates’ ability to serve their local communities.”
“New Paramount” will be led by David Ellison, the son of tech tycoon and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, an ally of Trump and one of the richest people in the world.
