NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The FCC announced it has approved the $8 billion merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, putting an end to the yearlong high-stakes saga.
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement Thursday. “In particular, Skydance has made written commitments 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.”
“These commitments, if implemented, would enable CBS to operate in the public interest and focus on fair, unbiased, and fact-based coverage. Doing so would begin the process of earning back Americans’ trust. Today’s decision also marks another step forward in the FCC’s efforts to eliminate invidious forms of DEI discrimination. And Skydance’s commitment to enhancing local news and reporting—coverage valued by the public—will also inure to the benefit of the American people,” Carr continued.
The FCC has finally approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance Media following a dramatic saga. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The merger comes just days after Paramount settled President Donald Trump’s lawsuit for multi-million dollars and its network CBS canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
The newly formed Paramount Skydance Corp. is led by CEO David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who will serve as president.
Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who controlled more than three-quarters of Paramount’s Class A voting shares, will exit the company.
Industry insiders believe Ellison, who was spotted sitting with President Donald Trump at UFC event in April, will aim to eliminate the perceived liberal slant at CBS News. It was previously reported that Skydance committed to appointing an ombudsman to oversee CBS News content.
Ellison and Shell are tasked with enhancing Paramount and CBS brands and have said the newly formed company will aim to be a creative-driven destination for storytellers.
Redstone was Paramount’s controlling shareholder through National Amusements Inc., the company she took control of in 2016 when her media mogul father, Sumner Redstone, was deemed too incapacitated to run the company. He died in 2020.
The merger comes after years of interest from various potential bidders. When it was first announced last year, Paramount said the Skydance Investor Group would pay $2.4 billion for National Amusements Inc.
The 2024 announcement also said the Ellison family and a RedBird Capital Partners-led group would invest a maximum of $6 billion in cash or shares to non-NAI stockholders and in “additional capital to paydown debt and re-capitalize the balance sheet” of the new company.
Redstone is set for a significant windfall as a result of the deal with Ellison. Bloomberg reported last year that she would receive $180 million in severance on top of the roughly $350 million she would pocket from the merger.
Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, is expected to receive a huge windfall from the Skydance merger. (Left: (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images), Right: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Before the merger became official, Paramount and CBS agreed to settle President Trump’s “election interference” lawsuit earlier this month for a sum expected to be north of $30 million, including $16 million upfront for Trump’s presidential library.
A source familiar with Paramount’s Redstone-era leadership told Fox News Digital that only the initial $16 million was sanctioned by the official mediator, and they had no knowledge of any deal Trump made with incoming ownership. Trump confirmed on Truth Social this week that he expects another $20 million from the new owners to be allocated for advertisements and public service announcements to promote conservative causes.
Redstone, who recused herself from discussions related to the Trump’s “election interference” lawsuit in February, wasn’t thrilled with being tied up in litigation with the sitting president and signed off on a settlement. It is widely believed that she wanted to settle in hopes of preventing potential retribution by Trump’s FCC, which had the authority to halt the merger with Skydance.
Longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft called the settlement a “shakedown,” Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart criticized the pact on Paramount’s airwaves, CNN’s Brian Stetler called it a “disturbing development” and current CBS News staffers were in disbelief.
“This settlement is a cowardly capitulation by the corporate leaders of Paramount, and a fundamental betrayal of ‘60 Minutes’ and CBS News,” veteran “60 Minutes” producer Rome Hartman told Fox News Digital at the time.
President Donald Trump filed a $20 billion lawsuit against Paramount Global over its handling of the “60 Minutes” Kamala Harris interview during the election. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Paramount and CBS ignited further backlash among liberals last week when it announced the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” CBS insisted it was purely a financial decision, while many critics, including top Democrats, accused the network of political motivation ahead of the Skydance merger.
But Colbert’s show was reportedly losing CBS $40 million a year and that it had been running on a whopping $100 million budget per season.
Still, Paramount has been at the receiving end of intense criticism, including by its own talent like “Daily Show host Jon Stewart and the creators of “South Park,” both shows airing on Paramount-owned Comedy Central.
Senators Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a letter to Ellison demanding answers about the Trump settlement and the Colbert cancellation, suggesting anti-bribery laws may have been broken in order for the merger to proceed with FCC approval.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital’s Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.