Berliner Boersenzeitung - US regulators greenlight contentious $8 bn Skydance-Paramount merger

Clearance of the acquisition comes after Paramount settled US President Donald Trump's lawsuit over election coverage on CBS News' flagship show "60 Minutes," and a week after CBS canceled "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

The comedian had blasted the $16 million settlement of Trump's lawsuit as "a big fat bribe" to win approval of the merger with Skydance.

Colbert's show is slated to end in 2026, and is staple of late-night US television that often mocks Trump.

CBS said in a statement the cancellation was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night," and was "not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."

Paramount reached the settlement with Trump this month in a lawsuit the entertainment giant itself had described as meritless.

The Republican president had sued Paramount for $20 billion last year, alleging that CBS News' "60 Minutes" news program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.

To promote the show, "60 Minutes" had shown a shortened clip or "tease" of Harris speaking on earlier network programming, and the full quote was aired on the Sunday evening broadcast.

Trump objected to the use of the shorter clip.

The FCC chair doubled down on the Trump administration's criticisms of CBS News.

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately and fairly,” Carr said in the statement. “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.”

- Suspicious timing? -

The FCC's approval of the merger "reeks of the worst form of corruption," Democratic Senators Edward Markey and Ben Ray Lujan said in a joint statement.

"The timing speaks for itself," Markey and Lujan said.

"Paramount settled with Trump on Tuesday and the FCC approved the merger on Thursday."

Markey last week sent a letter to Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone demanding details about the decision to cancel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," specifically whether anyone in the Trump administration asked for the show to be cancelled, according to a copy posted at his official website.

Colbert said on Thursday the cancellation was not just the end of his show but the end of the decades-old "Late Show" franchise, which has been broadcast continuously on CBS since 1993 and was previously hosted by David Letterman.

Trump celebrated the cancellation, writing on his Truth Social platform, "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings."

Trump's political opponents and other critics drew attention to the timing of the decision.

"CBS canceled Colbert's show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump -- a deal that looks like bribery," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on social media platform X.

Colbert, once a regular on Comedy Central, made use of humor in his incisive political commentary and succeeded Letterman as the host of "The Late Show" in 2015.

The late-night television landscape has long been dominated by satirical comedy shows that blend entertainment with news and political commentary.

As a condition of approval, Skydance will put in place an "ombudsman" who will evaluate complaints of bias, according to Carr.

"Skydance, which has no DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs in place today, has committed that it will not establish any such initiatives at the new company," Carr said in a release.

(B.Hartmann--BBZ)