Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr slammed a multistate effort to block Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying, “This really isn’t a legitimate antitrust case.”
He voiced doubt Wednesday that a coalition of 12 state attorneys general led by California will prevail in their challenge to the $110 billion deal.
“I doubt it,” Carr said when asked whether the states’ lawsuit would succeed during the Hill Nation Summit in Washington, DC.
He cited news reports that California had considered dropping its antitrust litigation if CNN were spun off from the combined company.
“There was a story that broke a couple weeks ago that said that California was floating the idea, according to news reports, of dropping all of the antitrust litigation if there was one condition that was met, which is that the purchase involved the spinning off of CNN,” Carr said.
“Now, I don’t understand what antitrust theory you have that says there’s a problem with this acquisition that is made or broken based on one cable channel being included,” he added.
“So I think that’s a bit of a tell that this really isn’t a legitimate antitrust case, but ultimately that’ll be up for the courts to decide.”
The comments came two days after a coalition of 12 state attorneys general, led by California, sued to block Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The lawsuit could prove costly even if it doesn’t ultimately stop the merger.
Under the agreement, WBD shareholders become entitled to an additional “ticking” payment if the transaction closes after Sept. 30, increasing the cost of the deal.
A court-ordered delay could also complicate financing and other closing conditions, adding pressure on both companies as the litigation unfolds.
During the interview, Carr rejected allegations that the FCC had accepted gifts from Paramount.
“I have no idea what the basis for that is,” he told The Hill. “It sounds like it has zero basis at all.”
CBS or its parent company, which is now Paramount, gave FCC commissioners expensive tickets to the Kennedy Center gala over the past decade, ProPublica reported Wednesday. Commissioners identified as accepting the tix did not comment to the outlet.
The states argue the combination would reduce competition in theatrical film distribution and cable television programming, giving the combined company greater leverage over movie theaters and pay-TV distributors while leading to higher prices, fewer films and reduced investment in content.
The coalition — consisting of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington, in addition to California — is seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to prevent the companies from closing the transaction while the case proceeds.
Separately, Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Public Integrity Project on Tuesday filed a shareholder derivative lawsuit in Delaware seeking to block Paramount’s acquisition of WBD.
The suit, brought on behalf of Paramount shareholder Paul Robbins, alleges that CEO David Ellison and other company insiders breached their fiduciary duties by trading the editorial independence of CBS and CNN for favorable treatment from the Trump administration.
The defendants have not responded to the allegations in court.
Paramount has privately floated commitments to keep its studio operations in California as part of discussions with state officials, while reports citing unnamed sources said the company was weighing moving operations out of the state if the merger were blocked or delayed.
The legal battle has already sparked a recruiting effort from Tennessee.
Republican Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter wrote to Paramount CEO David Ellison inviting the company to relocate its headquarters, pitching Tennessee’s low-tax, business-friendly environment as California presses its antitrust challenge.
Paramount has not publicly announced plans to relocate.
The Post has sought comment from Bonta.
Los Angeles City councilwoman and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, whose husband, Vali Chandrasekaran, is a television writer and producer, praised California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the other state attorneys general for suing to block the merger, calling it “a major step forward” for the “#BlockTheMerger” campaign.
In posts on X, Raman, a Dem, argued the merger “hurts Angelenos” and warned it would result in “higher prices, fewer productions, less creative freedom and fewer jobs.”