A trial date for the antitrust lawsuit brought against Paramount over its $111 billion bid to take over Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has been set for next spring.
A filing from the U.S. District Court in California’s Northern District showed that the trial date has been scheduled for March 2, 2027, and is expected to run for 12 court days, wrapping by March 19.
The court added an April 5, 2027, deadline for “the parties’ respective proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, complete with citations to legal authority and the factual record” to be submitted.
PARAMOUNT AGREES TO DELAY WARNER BROS DISCOVERY MERGER UNTIL 2027 AS LAWSUIT TO BLOCK IT GOES THROUGH COURT
Last month, Paramount agreed to delay its merger until next year to address the antitrust lawsuit led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Paramount CEO David Ellison is seeking to acquire WBD in a $111 billion deal that was expected to close during the third quarter of this year, but Bonta is leading a group of 12 state attorneys general who filed a lawsuit challenging the merger. The lawsuit claims the megadeal would “lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District for the Northern District of California, claims the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act, which holds that mergers that may substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly are illegal. Both sides argued their case last week but Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín waited until Monday to temporarily delay the merger.
The merger, which was set to close this year, is now being delayed until at least June 2027.
DAVID ELLISON BREAKS SILENCE ON PARAMOUNT-WBD MERGER FIGHT; CNN INSIDERS DON’T BUY ‘LIP SERVICE’ ABOUT NETWORK
Paramount’s bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery would be a historic deal merging two major Hollywood studios under one corporate umbrella as well as all of their television networks, including CBS and CNN. Critics of the deal believe such a merger would crush the entertainment industry and lead to mass layoffs. Some have also been vocal against Ellison and his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, who is heavily financing the deal and is a close ally to President Donald Trump.
Liberal critics in particular also claim that, as a result of the deal, CNN would be given a MAGA-bent to its coverage, and it would be run by current CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who has been harshly criticized by some media liberals. The Paramount CEO has previously assured that CNN would maintain editorial independence following the merger.
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In an op-ed published in The New York Times Tuesday, Ellison addressed the “speculation” about what would happen to CNN under his ownership.
“I have regularly voted for candidates of both parties; I hold some views that would be called conservative and others that would be called liberal, just like most Americans; and when it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views. I believe that news should be based on facts and truth,” Ellison wrote.
“Great news organizations like CNN and CBS News are here to tell it straight down the middle,” he added. “That requires newsrooms that reflect the whole world, not one side of it. And it requires independence.”
This deal would follow Ellison’s $8 billion purchase of Paramount, merging the studio with Skydance Media.
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Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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