Paramount Skydance mulls CNN sale amid antitrust merger challenge

Paramount Skydance is reportedly considering the sale of CNN as part of an effort to resolve an antitrust lawsuit challenging its proposed $110bn merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

On Tuesday, at Politico’s Agenda California conference, Paramount’s chief legal officer, Makan Delrahim, said a potential sale was on the table as 12 states led by California sued to block the merger.

He stressed that Paramount Skydance had been “transparent” and was willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats to move the merger forward.

“We’re not naive to know that politics does not exist,” said Delrahim, who served as an antitrust official during US President Donald Trump’s first term.

Editorial independence questioned

The potential sale comes as Ellison faces scrutiny over his promises to preserve CNN’s editorial independence if the merger goes through. Ellison, whose father is Oracle cofounder and prominent Trump ally Larry Ellison, has sought to reassure critics that he would not interfere with CNN’s journalism, including in a New York Times op-ed last week in which he promised to preserve the network’s independence.

But those assurances echo promises Ellison made before Paramount Skydance took control of CBS News nearly a year ago, according to CNN media analyst Brian Stelter.

CBS subsequently hired Bari Weiss, a right-leaning opinion writer with no television experience, to lead CBS News. CBS also appointed Kenneth Weinstein, a former Trump administration appointee, as an ombudsman to investigate allegations of bias.

CBS has since faced accusations of a rightward editorial shift under Weiss’s leadership, including the shelving of a 60 Minutes investigation into Trump’s deportation policy, a major overhaul of the news magazine programme and a primetime town hall with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk who was killed last September.

Prominent anchors including Anderson Cooper and Scott Pelley have also left or been fired from the network since Weiss joined.

Missing the point

While selling CNN could address some concerns about political influence over the network, the potential sale is not at the heart of the lawsuit filed by California and 11 other states challenging the merger.

Delrahim confirmed reports that Paramount was considering relocating operations amid the lawsuit, while appearing to ramp up political pressure before California’s gubernatorial election.

“If I was governor, I wouldn’t want to lose Hollywood from the state. I wouldn’t want to lose a major company like Paramount to another state,” Delrahim said.

The Writers Guild of America, which has opposed the merger, criticised Paramount’s reported threats to leave California.

“By threatening to leave the state because it doesn’t want the government to enforce the law, Paramount further proves the danger of its outsized power over the industry and what that will mean for writers and the creative community. This type of behavior is precisely why the merger should be blocked,” the Writers Guild of America said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera.

Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said selling CNN would not resolve the broader concerns surrounding the merger.

“The Attorneys General’s lawsuit is an antitrust case that has nothing to do with CNN, so selling CNN would not resolve it. It also would not resolve separate censorship concerns from free speech advocates,” Stern told Al Jazeera.

“HBO documentaries and even Hollywood films also rely on strong First Amendment rights that have not been compromised through crooked deals with the administration. The merger and the blatant corruption surrounding it is bad for Paramount, bad for the press, and bad for the public, full stop.”

The lawsuit alleges that consolidating the studios would mean fewer options for consumers and fewer professional opportunities for those who make television and movies. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has warned that the resulting company would control 27 percent of theatrically released films in the US market, as well as basic cable distribution.

On Wall Street, Paramount Skydance stock is up 1.1 percent in midday trading while Warner Bros. Discovery stock is up 1.4 percent.