The entertainment company Paramount Global is expected to close its $8bn merger agreement with Skydance Media on August 7, a date that marks two weeks after the administration of President Donald Trump gave its approval.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the two companies announced the final stage of the yearlong deal, which was first unveiled in July 2024.<\/p>\n
The merger is considered a massive shake-up<\/a> in the media landscape of the United States, drawing to a close the reign of the powerful Redstone family over the Paramount entertainment empire.<\/p>\n But the merger has garnered even more attention in recent weeks for its political backdrop.<\/p>\n On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave the green light for the merger to go forward, after a series of moves under Paramount that were widely interpreted as concessions to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n The FCC is technically an independent agency of the federal government, but since taking office in January for his second term, President Trump has sought to bring such agencies under his influence, including by appointing loyal allies to their leadership.<\/p>\n That put the fate of the Paramount-Skydance merger in question, particularly given Trump\u2019s combative relationship with CBS Broadcasting Inc, one of Paramount\u2019s premier properties.<\/p>\n Conflicts over content<\/p>\n Trump has long taken an adversarial approach to the news media, and CBS\u2019s flagship news programmes were no exception.<\/p>\n Some of those tensions came to a head in the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election, when Trump, a Republican, was facing off against Democratic contender Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n The TV news magazine 60 Minutes had a tradition<\/a> of interviewing each of the major party nominees for the presidency in the lead-up to the vote, and it had invited both Trump and Harris to participate.<\/p>\n Harris accepted the invitation, but 60 Minutes said Trump cancelled his scheduled interview. Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, disputed that characterisation.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were initial discussions, but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in,\u201d Cheung wrote<\/a> on social media. \u201cThey also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n The back-and-forth escalated when 60 Minutes aired two different cuts from its interview with Harris.<\/p>\n One version, which aired on a sister programme, Face The Nation, featured more of Harris\u2019s answer about her stance towards Israel. The other version, which aired on the 60 Minutes broadcast, was shorter.<\/p>\n Trump called the different edits evidence of deceptive reporting tactics and filed a lawsuit against Paramount, CBS\u2019s parent company.<\/p>\n \u201cCBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news,\u201d his court filing alleged.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is false,\u201d 60 Minutes responded in a statement on its website.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.\u201d<\/p>\n While many media experts expected Paramount to prevail on the merits of the case, the company instead sought to negotiate an end to the matter. Earlier this month, it agreed to pay $16m to Trump to go towards his future presidential library.<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, another top CBS show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, revealed it had been cancelled, allegedly for financial reasons.<\/p>\n But the timing and unexpected nature of the cancellation drew speculation that it might have been an attempt to appease Trump and streamline the merger, given the fact that Colbert frequently lambasted the Republican president on his show.<\/p>\n Trump himself posted<\/a> on Truth Social, \u201cI absolutely love that Colbert\u2019 got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.\u201d<\/p>\n The Late Show was consistently the top-rated late-night comedy show, and it had won a Peabody Award and multiple Emmy nods.<\/p>\n Days later, on July 22, Trump called<\/a> for more comedians to be ousted, writing, \u201cIt\u2019s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!\u201d<\/p>\n That same day, he confirmed he received the $16m for his 60 Minutes settlement, adding that he expected<\/a> to be receive an additional $20m in free advertising and programming from the \u201cnew owners\u201d.<\/p>\n South Park TV show takes aim<\/p>\n Within weeks of both the 60 Minutes lawsuit settlement and the cancellation of The Late Show, the FCC gave its blessing to the merger between Paramount and Skydance.<\/p>\n Under the merger, Skydance founder David Ellison, the son of Oracle Corporation CEO Larry Ellison, is slated to helm operations.<\/p>\n