For the people running Skydance Media, a “quick and clean” regulatory approval to buy Paramount Global has been replaced by “long and slow” — and that’s if they’re lucky, On The Money has learned.
The long-awaited merger’s final consummation is likely to remain in regulatory purgatory for the foreseeable future, government officials say. Despite continued heavy lobbying – and playing the so-called Trump card reminding the media world that Larry Ellison, one of the president-elect’s biggest boosters is the father of Skydance chief David Ellison– the new management hasn’t yet satisfied certain “fairness” conditions that will be demanded by the incoming administration’s regulatory big wigs.
Skydance had hoped to close the deal during the first quarter of this year; incoming Federal Communication Commission chair Brendan Carr has signaled that’s not likely to happen, these people add. He won’t rubber-stamp the $8 billion tie-up because he believes there’s evidence that Paramount’s TV-subsidiary, CBS News, plays fast and loose with basic FCC fairness rules all networks (as opposed to cable) must meet to air programming over the public airwaves.
“Carr has told them a quick and clean approval is not on the table and all else remains on the table including an eventual approval or a denial,” a source close to the situation told On the Money.
Journalism has broad protections under the First Amendment, of course. But local TV has to meet certain fairness requirements to obtain FCC licenses to broadcast over public airwaves. That means, particularly during a political season, giving both parties equal access on news shows and not overtly taking sides in news programming.
Carr is said to be particularly vexed about CBS’ once-prestigious news magazine, “60 Minutes.” As On The Money has reported, conservative critics believe the network was trying to tip the scales in the 2024 presidential election, allegedly favorably editing an Oct. 7 interview with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to make her sound, let’s say, more coherent, than her usual world salad when answering even simple policy questions.
Her edited reply came after the network aired a promo that showed Harris seemingly stumbling over the same question that she appeared to answer more seamlessly when the official interview ran.
Carr may seek proof that “60 Minutes” didn’t favorably edit the interview before giving the Paramount deal the green light. Trump has called for CBS to release the full, unedited transcript, which the network brass have ignored.
Now they might not have any choice. If Carr finds there was some shady business, he is thinking of demanding assurances that behavior won’t happen again before the FCC grants the network approval for its local broadcast licenses, which are being reviewed with a change in ownership.
CBS has denied it favorably edited the interview.
On The Money can also report that other items on Carr’s radar include possible favorable editing of a “60 Minutes” October 2023 interview of our barely sentient president Joe Biden (who often makes Kamala Harris sound like Winston Churchill), when he thought he was still running for the White House.
Yet another item on Carr’s list and possible impediment to deal approval: CBS’s reliance on so-called Diversity Equity and Inclusion, government sources said.
Broadcast networks and Hollywood studios in particular have in recent years pushed the controversial measures in hiring and promotion. Such employment practices have been criticized as racial and gender-based quotas and illegal because they give candidates who meet intersectionality measures advantages, a clear violation of civil rights laws.
Yes, Skydance and Paramount will be controlled by the younger Ellison, and his management has been telling media industry execs that the Larry Ellison-Trump connection is going to get the deal approved sooner or later.
But Trump didn’t name Carr – currently an FCC commissioner long known in DC circles as a firebrand – because he wanted deals involving liberal media outfits to get pushed through unscathed.
Trump, himself, has criticized “60 Minutes” for aiding his opponents during the presidential election cycle.
A “60 Minutes” spokeswoman didn’t return a request for comment on Carr’s editing concerns. A Skydance spokeswoman had no comment. Carr declined to comment..
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