LIVE 12:30 PT: Richard Rushfield & Matt Stoller on Paramount Settlement — WTF
The deal adds $17.5 million to the WGA health plan and bars writer layoffs at CBS News Broadcast for five years.
- On Monday, Paramount Skydance settled antitrust lawsuits with 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America, clearing the path for its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery to close in approximately two weeks.
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other state officials sued in July to block the merger, alleging the deal would "extinguish competition" and reduce consumer choice in film and television markets.
- Under the agreement, Paramount must invest at least $300 million annually in U.S. film production, prohibit writer layoffs at CBS News for five years, and establish an editorial independence board for news operations.
- Paramount will pay $17.5 million to the WGA health fund and avoid a so-called "ticking fee" of roughly $7 million per day that would have accumulated after September 30.
- Activist coalitions pledged to continue fighting media consolidation, while Bonta maintained the agreement "is not a vote of support for this merger" and does not address deeper industry harms.
24 Articles
24 Articles
WGA Settles Paramount-Warner Bros. Lawsuit as Final Legal Roadblock to Massive Merger Falls
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has settled its lawsuit seeking to block Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, removing what had been the other major legal obstacle standing between David Ellison and the completion of Hollywood’s largest merger. The settlement comes on the same day that California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a […]
A major obstacle to Paramount's Warner Bros. merger has just been removed
The $81 billion US dollar blockbuster deal will bring together two of Hollywood's oldest studios, key TV networks like CBS and CNN and streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount+, as well as decades of libraries with titles ranging from Harry Potter to Top Gun.
WGA Settles Antitrust Lawsuit With Paramount, David Ellison Says Merger Could Close In "Two Weeks"
Today, the path toward David Ellison‘s hostile acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (pushing Netflix out of the way of their own previous deal) is looking a lot clearer, as the company has now closed a settlement with California and 11 other states. This follows Ellison’s threat to move the legacy studio out of the state to Texas, Tennessee, or Georgia, with an internal report claiming local job losses in L.A./Cali could be as high as nearly 60…
WGA Gets No Writer Layoffs At CBS News, $17.5M For Health Fund As Guild Confirms Settlement Of Lawsuit Against Paramount-WBD Merger
The WGA has confirmed that its own lawsuit over the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger also has been settled, following the same move by the state attorneys general announced Monday morning by California AG Rob Bonta. In a statement, the guild acknowledged that it could not go it alone. “We continue to believe the merger will […]
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