Paramount and States Defend Warner Bros Merger Deal After Booker Objection
Paramount and 12 state attorneys general have asked a federal judge to approve their settlement clearing Paramount's $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery.
The responses were filed on Monday, 28 September, after Senator Cory Booker urged the court to give the deal tougher scrutiny. Both Paramount and the states say the agreement was hard fought, has real enforcement power, and does not need an extra independent review, according to Variety.
At the centre is a consent decree, meaning a court-approved settlement that sets legally binding conditions for the merger to go ahead. Paramount says that decree answers fears about fewer films in cinemas by guaranteeing an enforceable pipeline of new theatrical releases every year.
Booker objected in a letter last Thursday. He argued the terms do not go far enough to fix the harm to competition from combining two of Hollywood's largest studios.
One flashpoint is time. The decree expires after five years. Booker said that leaves no protections in year six. Paramount and the states called the five-year term a bargained-for balance, reflecting the need to preserve competition and the fast-changing nature of film and television.
Another flashpoint is news. The settlement creates an editorial independence board to oversee CNN and CBS News. Booker said editorial issues were never part of the states' competition complaint, and questioned how independent a board can be if Paramount picks its members.
Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin ordered Paramount and the states to answer Booker's letter. She has not yet signed off on the decree, saying she would rule in due course.
The court has also received amicus briefs, meaning submissions from outside groups allowed to offer views, opposing the deal. They came from members of the Block the Merger coalition and from the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Booker had asked the court to subject the proposed decree to an independent public-interest review, a separate check on whether a settlement serves the wider public, according to Deadline. The judge set 25 September as the deadline for replies, according to a statement from Booker's office.
For viewers, this is about slots on the calendar. How many films reach cinemas each year. Who controls CNN, CBS News, HBO and the Warner Bros film library. And whether a crew of hundreds gets to finish the stories already in production.
The background explains the rush. Twelve states had sued to block the bid, which was earlier reported at $110 billion, according to Bloomberg. Paramount later reached a settlement with California and 11 other states to clear the way for the merger, according to Reuters. That deal also helped Paramount avoid a $7 million-a-day ticking fee, a penalty payment owed to Warner shareholders for each day the takeover did not close, according to Reuters.
What makes this stand out is how narrow the next step is. No new trial. No new negotiation yet. Just a judge deciding whether the papers already filed do enough.
