Paramount Global and Skydance Media hit back at critics of their pending merger, saying they fail to show they will be harmed by the deal and instead claim their claims threaten free speech rights in a regulatory filing Thursday .
Since the $8 billion deal was announced in July, opponents have pointed to potential liberal bias, foreign influence and a lack of diversity, among other concerns.
“These filings are procedurally flawed, require relief that raises constitutional concerns and/or otherwise lack merit,” Skydance, Paramount and its controlling investor, National Amusements Inc., said in the filing. “Neither party identifies any transaction-related harm that would merit denying the applications or imposing conditions.”
Most recently, the merger of Paramount, home of CBS, MTV and Paramount+, with independent film producer Skydance has drawn criticism at the Federal Communications Commission from LiveVideo.AI Corp., the Center for American Rights and Fuse Media.
The FCC must approve deals involving the sale of broadcast television stations.
Incoming FCC chief Brendan Carr, who will take up the mantle when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20, has already expressed concern about the role of the national broadcast media in eroding “public trust” in news.
In their filing, Paramount and Skydance said the measures proposed by the Center for American Rights may be unconstitutional.
The center, a nonprofit that has filed complaints about media bias at other networks, said in a public filing that the deal should be approved only on the condition that Paramount avoid foreign influence and promote diversity on its airwaves.
The group noted that Tencent Holdings Ltd. of China is an investor in Skydance.
“The center’s demand that the commission compel ‘New Paramount to commit to diversity of viewpoint, with realistic standards and expectations,’ would be anathema to the First Amendment because it would put the government in the untenable position of overseeing policy and editorial choices.” of a transmitter. ,” Skydance said in its filing.
Skydance said Tencent will hold only a minority stake in Paramount’s non-voting stock after the merger.
Last month, Fuse, a Latino-owned media company, also accused Paramount of favoring its programming on its Pluto streaming service, which Paramount denied.
LiveVideo said Paramount and parent company National Amusements conducted a rigged auction of the business.
The companies responded Thursday that LiveVideo provided “no factual support for its claims” and asked the commission to approve their merger immediately and unconditionally.
As reported by The Post’s Charles Gasparino, sources close to the megadeal said Carr could make a number of dramatic changes to the deal before pulling it out.
One such change is that CBS may be required to fully comply with the standards established for US broadcast licensees to be “neutral” news organizations.
According to people close to Trump’s transition team, CBS could, among other things, be forced to turn over a full transcript of the controversial “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, which those in Trump’s orbit believe shows the network played dirty during the 2024 elections.
It could also include broader demands, such as Skydance — a Hollywood film studio best known for producing recent installments of “Mission: Impossible” — being asked to demonstrate to the Trump team that CBS will becomes a fair arbiter of news, among other things. , The Post reported.
Meanwhile, Paramount Global chief Shari Redstone is banking on her friendly relationship with Trump to help the media giant avoid any FCC problems in its merger with Skydance, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal last week.
The media mogul also hopes that Trump’s long-standing relationship with Larry Ellison — the billionaire co-founder of Oracle and father of Skydance CEO David Ellison — will help pave the way for the $8 billion deal.
Representatives for Redstone and the Ellisons declined to comment at the time.
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