FCC OKs $8B Paramount—Skydance Deal, Says It Ensures ‘Diversity of Viewpoints’ at CBS

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The FCC has approved the merger of Paramount and Skydance

The Federal Communications Commission has approved the $8 billion merger of Paramount Global (PARA) and Skydance Media, claiming “significant changes,” are coming to the CBS owner.

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said. “That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”

Carr said Skydance has committed to ensuring New Paramount programming “embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum.” That commitment includes working with an ombudsman whose job it is to evaluate complaints of media bias.

Paramount’s politics have been in focus after the company in May agreed to pay President Donald Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a CBS interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump’s lawsuit alleged that CBS News had “deceitfully edited a ’60 Minutes’ interview with the Democratic presidential candidate to make her sound better,” according to reports.

Paramount recently announced the cancellation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which has included jokes criticizing Trump as a fixture of its material. Paramount called the move “a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”

Paramount and Skydance agreed to merge in June after months of negotiations. As part of the deal, Skydance and its private equity backer will pay $2.4 billion to buy National Amusements, the holding company owned by Shari Redstone that controls about 77% of Paramount’s voting share. The companies will pay $4.5 billion to Paramount shareholders and another $1.5 billion will go toward Paramount’s balance sheet.

David Ellison, founder of Skydance and son of Oracle (ORCL) co-founder Larry Ellison, will take over as CEO of New Paramount after the media conglomerate’s previous chief executive, Bob Bakish, left earlier this year, with a three-person “office of the CEO” taking his place.

Shares of Paramount rose slightly in early trading Friday. The stock is up more than 25% for 2025.

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