{"id":84909,"date":"2025-07-23T03:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T03:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84909\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T03:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T03:40:09","slug":"paramount-skydance-meet-with-fccs-anna-gomez-about-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/84909\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount, Skydance Meet With FCC’s Anna Gomez About Merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paramount, Skydance and National Amusements\u2019 push for FCC approval of their pending $8 billion merger deal continues, with representatives from the three companies meeting with the agency\u2019s lone Democrat commissioner Anna Gomez.<\/p>\n

Per a new regulatory filing posted on Tuesday<\/a>, the representatives touted the transaction\u2019s \u201csignificant public interest benefits\u201d in a meeting with Gomez on Friday. They also addressed concerns raised by third parties who filed petitions in the proceeding.<\/p>\n

Among the petitioners is the Teamsters union, which proposed a condition that would set a floor on the number of fulltime employees at CBS owned-and-operated stations, which would be in effect for eight years from the date of the merger\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

Fuse Media has also called for a \u201cfixed percentage of programming on New Paramount\u2019s streaming platforms for independent content providers, offered under fair, non-discriminatory prices, terms and conditions,\u201d while CBS Television Network\u2019s Affiliates Association asked that the deal\u2019s approval address issues related to \u201cCBS control over affiliate finances and \u201cvirtual MVPD\u201d
negotiations, exclusivity of programming, and affiliation renewal practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Center for American Rights proposed a condition to require \u201cincreased network carriage of locally produced content from affiliated and owned-and-operated stations, along with the recruitment of personnel from a wide range of ideological viewpoints.\u201d It has also asked that the merger be conditioned upon a commitment to avoid foreign influence, citing a minority stake in Skydance from China\u2019s Tencent Holdings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paramount, Skydance and NAI said the deal would preserve and enhance the \u201clegacy and broad reach\u201d of both the national CBS television network and the company\u2019s 28 owned-and-operated local television stations. The group argued that the deal would not reduce competition, citing no attributable interest in broadcast stations from Skydance nor RedBird Capital Partners.<\/p>\n

It also said parties seeking to \u201cregulate carriage of third party programming on New Paramount\u2019s streaming platforms, mandate expansion of collective
bargaining arrangements, and intervene in commercial arrangements between CBS and its network affiliates\u201d relate to issues that are not transaction-specific and would be \u201cmore appropriately addressed in separate Commission proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest talks come after David Ellison met with Brendan Carr on July 15, where the former expressed New Paramount\u2019s commitment to unbiased journalism and said it would ensure CBS\u2019 editorial decision-making reflects the \u201cvaried ideological perspectives of American viewers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ellison also committed to promoting \u201cnon-discrimination and equal employment opportunity\u201d at New Paramount and said its planned governance structure would \u201cnot be subject to any Chinese or other foreign influence,\u201d noting Tencent\u2019s stake is a non-voting, passive interest of less than 5%.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"David\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Gomez has notably called for the Skydance merger to be held to a vote by the full commission, rather than approval through the delegated power of the FCC\u2019s Media Bureau. <\/p>\n

She recently blasted Paramount\u2019s settlement with Trump, calling it a \u201cdesperate move\u201d to appease the administration and secure regulatory approval, adding that it sets a \u201cdangerous precedent for the First Amendment.\u201d <\/p>\n

She also argued that approving the Skydance transaction behind closed doors and \u201cunder the cover of bureaucratic process\u201d would be a \u201cshameful outcome that denies the American people the transparency and accountability they deserve, especially when press freedom is at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Paramount-Skydance merger recently triggered its second automatic 90-day extension, which has pushed the final closing deadline to Oct. 6. If the deal is not closed by then, Paramount and Skydance would have the option to terminate the deal, which would not be subject to the agreement\u2019s $400 million breakup fee.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"David\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount, Skydance and National Amusements\u2019 push for FCC approval of their pending $8 billion merger deal continues, with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[57485,171,36397,7813,15329,26873,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-84909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-anna-gomez","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-fcc","11":"tag-merger","12":"tag-paramount","13":"tag-skydance","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114900475894823793","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}