Paramount/WBD merger conditions give the public "virtually nothing," judge is told
The commitment to release 30 films is lower “than what the companies have together forecasted to investors for 2027 as independent companies,” the filing said. Warner Bros. projected it would release 19 films while Paramount forecast 15 or more, the filing said.
The groups criticized a related condition requiring four independent films each year. The settlement’s definition of “independent film” includes any movie based on an original screenplay even if it is wholly financed, developed, and owned by the studio, the filing said.
Small business owners “get nothing”
If Paramount fails to release enough films, it would be required to divest Miramax Studios and pay $30 million per missed film toward the health and retirement trust funds of various unions and to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) for more antitrust enforcement.
Meanwhile, “small business owners and independent contractors like those that populate the independent and documentary industries—the very groups that would stand to potentially gain from greater production and distribution in competitive markets—get nothing,” the filing by free speech and media groups said.
The settlement requires Paramount to set up an “Editorial Independence Board” for CBS News and CNN. The Editorial Independence Board members would be chosen by Paramount and would report to Paramount’s board of directors, which is chaired by CEO David Ellison.
“To be sure, there are serious questions about editorial independence following reports that the Ellisons offered President Trump what were described as ‘sweeping changes’ and an ‘overhaul’ at CNN in exchange for federal regulatory approval of this merger,” the free speech and media groups said. “But conditioning the States’ approval of the merger on agreeing to create an oversight board on news content is constitutionally fraught.”
The filing said the settlement “memorializes this government intrusion into editorial decisions. Presumably, if the Combined Entity allegedly breaches its vague editorial independence obligations, Plaintiff States may return to the Court to enforce these terms. That would place the Court in the position of superintending content and viewpoint choices by newsrooms with its contempt power.”
