Last year, it announced the acquisition of National Amusements.Indirectly holds Paramount PicturesAfter the news, SkydanceConfirmBy the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)ApproveIn addition to acquiring Paramount, Skydance also acquired assets including CBS Television, valued at $80 billion.
In a public statement, Brendan Carr, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, stated that Skydance is committed to "presenting diverse political and ideological perspectives" in its news and entertainment content, and emphasized that the company has issued a written guarantee that "it will not establish DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion)-related programs" to comply with the Trump administration's governing direction.
Brendan Carr said in a statement: "The American people no longer trust the comprehensiveness, accuracy and fairness of traditional national news media reports, so now is the time to promote change." He believes that Skydance's commitment will help CBS return to its operating principles based on the public interest and regain the trust of viewers.
However, the merger was not without controversy. Federal Communications Commissioner Anna Gomez issued a statement of dissent, stating that she could not support the deal due to "concerning concessions" made by Paramount to facilitate the merger.
Anna Gomez's reasons for opposing the statement include agreeing to pay $1600 million in early July to settle a lawsuit filed by US President Trump regarding the false content of a CBS interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020.Note) to settle. Despite some opinions suggesting the case had a low chance of success, Paramount still chose to settle with Trump, a move widely interpreted as an effort to circumvent merger review barriers. However, Paramount emphasized that the funds would be used to fund Trump's future presidential library and would not be paid directly or indirectly to Trump himself.
Note:Trump accused CBS of deliberately editing Harris's answers to confuse and mislead the public.
Anna Gomez also criticized the FCC for using its power to force companies into private settlements and interfere with press freedom. She stated, "This is unprecedented. The FCC is using administrative power to pressure media companies into legal settlements, thereby infringing on editorial independence and freedom of expression."
Anna Gomez also expressed dissatisfaction with Skydance's explicit refusal to establish a DEI program, arguing that it represents the FCC's "undermining legitimate efforts to combat discrimination and expand opportunity" and interfering with employment-related policies that should be the responsibility of other government agencies. She warned that such precedents would lead to government abuse of power, imbalanced media self-regulation, and pose a long-term threat to press freedom in the United States.
For Skydance, acquiring Paramount will not only expand its presence in the film and television entertainment industry, but it also plans to restructure the Paramount+ streaming video service under the leadership of new CEO David Ellison and reduce overall operating costs. Therefore, the streaming video service that Paramount has spent billions of dollars to build in recent years but has never been able to turn a profit may be able to transform through this merger and acquisition.
