Skydance Media may finally win regulatory approval for its $8 billion deal to merge with Paramount Global — but the process could look like something out of “Mission: Impossible.”
That’s the word from sources close to the megadeal, who tell me that under terms of a merger approval being discussed by the incoming Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission, Paramount’s CBS network could be forced to make a slew of surprising and dramatic changes.
Viewers may find some of them hard to miss.
The operating principle here — and it’s a big one to unpack, as discussed below — is that CBS could be required to fully abide by standards set 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 the Trump orbit believe shows the network played dirty during the 2024 election.
But people close to the situation tell me the stakes could be far broader than that. In short, Skydance — a Hollywood movie studio best known for producing the recent installments of “Mission: Impossible” — will be asked to demonstrate to Team Trump that CBS will become a fair arbiter of news.
If that sounds like a far-fetched task that’s better suited for Tom Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt, you wouldn’t be wrong.
It would mean, for example, that CBS would no longer tilt its news coverage in favor of Democrats, including how its anchors comport themselves during presidential debates.
The Trump people point to CBS VP-debate moderators Margaret Brennan and Norah O’Donnell, who were equally criticized for showing bias in cutting off and fact-checking Trump running mate J.D. Vance in his Oct. 1 faceoff with Tim Walz.
Colbert softballs
Meanwhile, CBS’s lefty “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert isn’t just biased in his commentary, he literally hosted a Dem fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall where he threw softball questions at Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
After Trump’s Nov. 5 victory, enter incoming FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who is well aware of all of the above and wants to end such left-wing propaganda in exchange for Skydance receiving FCC approval. Unlike cable, fairness standards apply to traditional, local TV.
“Make no mistake, Brendan wants CBS to be the neutral news organization that its FCC license demands,’’ says one person familiar with Carr’s thinking.
“And that extends to Colbert. They will call it comedy, but you can’t use the public airwaves to be an extension of the DNC.”
It may not hurt that Skydance is run by David Ellison, who’s getting financial backing from his dad, Larry, the co-founder of Oracle whose net worth is pegged by Forbes at $231 billion — and who also happens to be a major Trump supporter.
Still, all of this is a long way from the tenor of the talks before Nov. 5.
The deal was thought to be locked up.
As I have reported, the Biden-Harris administration signaled it saw no problems on antitrust grounds.
Then things got a little crazy. CBS, once considered the gold standard of unbiased journalism, has increasingly tilted to the left and Republicans believe that tilt reached epic proportions during the 2024 election.
First came the internal pressure imposed on “CBS Mornings” anchor Tony Dokoupil after his tough questioning of far-left writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, who penned a screed that attacked Israel for its response to the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.
Then came the “60 Minutes” episode. The Trump camp believes the program selectively edited an Oct. 7 interview with Kamala Harris — whose signature dish is “word salad” — to make her sound smarter.
Carr is a longtime telecom activist and commissioner who made a name for himself raising questions about the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok and whether the CCP is using the service for spycraft.
People who know Carr say he plans to use the FCC approval process — which could take months and add additional costs to the Paramount purchase that the new owners would like to avoid — to squeeze promises of neutrality out of them.
Larry made the call
Top Skydance executives are saying they have the whole thing locked up given the Trump-Ellison bromance; Larry has already made a call to Trump to push the deal through.
But people close to Carr say Larry Ellison and the Skydance team might not fully appreciate how much Trump knows about the “Art Of The Deal” — and how much he hates CBS and its anti-Trump bias.
Trump may be poised to have it both ways: help his friend Larry with Carr approving the transaction — but only after CBS ’fesses up to its lefty bias and vows to turn back toward covering news instead of being an advocacy arm of the Democratic Party.
Carr declined to comment; a Skydance spokeswoman had no comment.
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