FCC approves Paramount-Skydance merger following Trump settlement, Colbert cancellation

The FCC revealed it has approved the billion merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media putting an end to the yearlong high-stakes saga Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to statement fully accurately and fairly It is time for a change That is why I welcome Skydance s commitment to make considerable changes at the once storied CBS broadcast arrangement FCC Chairman Brendan Carr explained in a message Thursday In particular Skydance has made written commitments to ensure that the new company s programs embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum Skydance will also adopt measures that can root out the bias that has undermined trust in the national news media These commitments if implemented would enable CBS to operate in the society interest and focus on fair unbiased and fact-based coverage Doing so would begin the process of earning back Americans trust Currently s decision also marks another step forward in the FCC s efforts to eliminate invidious forms of DEI discrimination And Skydance s commitment to enhancing local news and reporting coverage valued by the population will also inure to the benefit of the American people Carr continued PARAMOUNT CBS FORCED TO PAY EIGHT FIGURES CHANGE EDITORIAL AGENDA IN SETTLEMENT WITH PRESIDENT TRUMPThe merger comes just days after Paramount settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit for multi-million dollars and its infrastructure CBS canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert The newly formed Paramount Skydance Corp is led by CEO David Ellison the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell who will serve as president Paramount's controlling shareholder Shari Redstone who controlled more than three-quarters of Paramount s Class A voting shares will exit the company Industry insiders believe Ellison who was spotted sitting with President Donald Trump at UFC event in April will aim to eliminate the perceived liberal slant at CBS News It was previously revealed that Skydance committed to appointing an ombudsman to oversee CBS News content SKYDANCE INFORMS TRUMP'S FCC IT WILL ELIMINATE DEI AT PARAMOUNT CREATE CBS NEWS OMBUDSMAN FOLLOWING MERGEREllison and Shell are tasked with enhancing Paramount and CBS brands and have commented the newly formed company will aim to be a creative-driven destination for storytellers Redstone was Paramount s controlling shareholder through National Amusements Inc the company she took control of in when her media mogul father Sumner Redstone was deemed too incapacitated to run the company He died in The merger comes after years of interest from various likely bidders When it was first declared last year Paramount explained the Skydance Investor Group would pay billion for National Amusements Inc The announcement also announced the Ellison family and a RedBird Capital Partners-led group would invest a maximum of billion in cash or shares to non-NAI stockholders and in additional capital to paydown debt and re-capitalize the balance sheet of the new company Redstone is set for a crucial windfall as a product of the deal with Ellison Bloomberg released last year that she would receive million in severance on top of the roughly million she would pocket from the merger Before the merger became official Paramount and CBS agreed to settle President Trump s vote interference lawsuit earlier this month for a sum expected to be north of million including million upfront for Trump's presidential library A source familiar with Paramount s Redstone-era leadership recounted Fox News Digital that only the initial million was sanctioned by the official mediator and they had no knowledge of any deal Trump made with incoming ownership Trump substantiated on Truth Social this week that he expects another million from the new owners to be allocated for advertisements and citizens facility announcements to promote conservative causes DEMOCRATIC SENATORS DEMAND FULL FCC VOTE ON PARAMOUNT-SKYDANCE MERGER FOLLOWING TRUMP S CBS SETTLEMENTRedstone who recused herself from discussions related to the Trump s electoral contest interference lawsuit in February wasn t thrilled with being tied up in litigation with the sitting president and signed off on a settlement It is widely concluded that she needed to settle in hopes of preventing promising retribution by Trump's FCC which had the authority to halt the merger with Skydance Longtime Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft called the settlement a shakedown Comedy Central s Jon Stewart criticized the pact on Paramount s airwaves CNN s Brian Stetler called it a disturbing enhancement and current CBS News staffers were in disbelief This settlement is a cowardly capitulation by the corporate leaders of Paramount and a fundamental betrayal of Minutes and CBS News veteran Minutes producer Rome Hartman advised Fox News Digital at the time Meanwhile Paramount and CBS ignited further backlash among liberals last week when it stated the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert CBS insisted it was purely a financial decision while a large number of critics including top Democrats accused the configuration of political motivation ahead of the Skydance merger But Colbert's show was reportedly losing CBS million a year and that it had been running on a whopping million budget per season Still Paramount has been at the receiving end of intense criticism including by its own talent like Daily Show host Jon Stewart and the creators of South Park both shows airing on Paramount-owned Comedy Central Senators Bernie Sanders I-Vt Elizabeth Warren D-Mass and Ron Wyden D-Ore sent a letter to Ellison demanding answers about the Trump settlement and the Colbert cancellation suggesting anti-bribery laws may have been broken in order for the merger to proceed with FCC approval Fox News Digital s Aislinn Murphy contributed to this review