Paramount Settles Its Antitrust Fight Over Warner Bros. Discovery, and the $110 Billion Merger Could Close Within Two Weeks
Paramount Skydance’s marathon fight to buy Warner Bros. Discovery just cleared its biggest remaining obstacle. On September 21, Paramount settled the antitrust lawsuits that a coalition of twelve state attorneys general, and separately the Writers Guild of America, filed to block the $110 billion merger, agreeing to a five-year slate of film production commitments and new editorial safeguards for CNN and CBS News. The settlement still needs a federal judge’s approval, but it clears away the last major legal roadblock standing between Paramount and a deal that has been stuck in court since the spring.
What Paramount Agreed To
The states, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and joined by eleven others including New York, Washington, and Oregon, had argued the combined company would control too much of the theatrical and cable television markets. To settle, Paramount committed to releasing at least 30 films theatrically each year for the first two years after closing, rising to 32 films annually for the following three, with a minimum number of wide releases and at least four independent films every year. The company also agreed to spend an additional $1.5 billion on domestic film production over five years, on top of what it already spends, a figure that could climb further if new federal or state film tax credits pass.
CNN and CBS Get an Editorial Firewall
Beyond the film commitments, the settlement creates a five-member News Editorial Independence Board to oversee CNN and CBS News, made up of journalists with at least a decade of experience and no more than two members from the same political party. The board has to be up and running within 180 days of the deal closing, meant to keep Paramount’s ownership from steering either newsroom’s coverage. Paramount also agreed to a $47.5 million fund for workers displaced by the merger and a separate $25 million fund supporting independent filmmakers.
Miss a Target, Pay the Price
The settlement isn’t just a promise on paper. Missing any of the film release requirements triggers a $30 million penalty per shortfall, with the money going toward union healthcare and retirement trusts and further antitrust enforcement. Keep missing those targets, and Paramount could even be forced to divest Miramax, the studio it stands to pick up as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison struck a confident tone regardless, framing the settlement as full clearance for the merger to move forward.
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approved the Paramount Skydance takeover back in April, months before this settlement cleared its last legal hurdle.
A Deal That’s Been Mostly Done Since Spring
As we covered when Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders first approved the takeover, this deal has been mostly finished on paper for months: the Department of Justice cleared it in June, and regulators across nearly 70 countries had signed off by August. The states’ lawsuit was the one piece still standing in the way, with a trial not even scheduled until March 2027 before this settlement made that hearing unnecessary.
What Happens Next
A federal judge still has to approve the consent decree before the settlement takes effect, but Ellison told staff in a memo he expects the deal to close in “approximately two weeks.” There’s a real financial incentive to move fast: if the deal isn’t closed by September 30, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders start collecting a ticking fee worth roughly $650 million per quarter for as long as it stays open, on top of the $7 billion Paramount would owe if the merger collapsed entirely. The settlement itself doesn’t touch streaming, but Paramount’s existing plan for once the deal closes is to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single service built around HBO’s library, DC Studios, and CNN alongside CBS, Nickelodeon, and Paramount’s own film catalog.
California’s Bonta framed the settlement as a win for the industry rather than an endorsement of the merger itself, saying it secures major new investment in domestic film production over the next five years. Whether that’s enough to make a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery a real challenger to Netflix and Disney is still an open question, but after months in legal limbo, the companies are finally about to find out.
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Picture Source: Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery
