US regulators greenlight contentious $8 billion Skydance-Paramount merger

Skydance will acquire Paramount Global after assuring regulators that the merged company will follow Trump administration guidelines against promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. Photo / AFP

US regulators have approved a US$8 billion deal for Skydance to acquire Paramount Global amid tumult in the latter’s news and late-night programming on its CBS broadcast network.

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 cancelled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Colbert had blasted the $16 million settlement of Trump’s lawsuit as “a big fat bribe” to win approval of the merger with Skydance.

The comedian’s show, which is a staple of late-night US television that often mocks Trump, is slated to end in 2026.

CBS said 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 settled with Trump this month in a lawsuit it had earlier described as meritless.

The President had sued Paramount for $20b last year, alleging that 60 Minutes deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favour.

To promote the interview, 60 Minutes showed a shortened clip or “tease” of Harris speaking, and the full quote was aired on the Sunday evening broadcast.

Trump objected to the use of the shorter clip.

In approving the Skydance deal, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr 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,” he said. “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?

Democratic Senators Edward Markey and Ben Ray Lujan said the FCC’s approval of the merger “reeks of the worst form of corruption”.

“The timing speaks for itself,” they said.

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

Markey sent a letter to Paramount Global chairwoman Shari Redstone last week 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.

Colbert said yesterday that the cancellation marked 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 cancelled 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 X.

Colbert, once a regular on Comedy Central, succeeded Letterman as the host of The Late Show in 2015, using humour in his incisive political commentary.

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.

- Agence France-Presse