Trump administration regulators have approved Skydance Media’s $8 billion bid to acquire CBS News parent company Paramount, paving the way for a tectonic shift in ownership of one of America’s three major networks.
The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that it had approved the acquisition, with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr adding in a news release that the move would bring change to the company's news coverage. Paramount owns CBS, which includes CBS News.
"Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change," Carr said. "That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network. In particular, Skydance has made written commitments to ensure that the new company’s programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum."
"Today’s decision also marks another step forward in the FCC’s efforts to eliminate invidious forms of DEI discrimination," Carr added.
In recent days, Paramount's new owner made a number of concessions to the FCC, including agreeing to not implement any diversity, equity or inclusion programs. Skydance also said it would "undertake a comprehensive review" of CBS and "will commit, for a period of at least two years, to have in place an ombudsman." That role would report to the president of the new company.
A number of companies that have billion-dollar transactions pending before Carr's FCC have also backed off of DEI programs, including Verizon and T-Mobile.
The concessions also came after Paramount Global settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump for $16 million. Trump brought that suit, saying the way CBS edited a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris was "election and voter interference."
The lone Democrat in FCC leadership, Commissioner Anna Gomez, did not mince words about the push to secure promises from the companies.
“After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted," she said in an emailed statement.
"In an unprecedented move, this once-independent FCC used its vast power to pressure Paramount to broker a private legal settlement and further erode press freedom," she added. "Once again, this agency is undermining legitimate efforts to combat discrimination and expand opportunity by overstepping its authority and intervening in employment matters reserved for other government entities with proper jurisdiction on these issues."
"Even more alarming, it is now imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law."
Skydance is run by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder and Trump ally Larry Ellison. While the younger Ellison made a donation to President Joe Biden’s re-election fund in February 2024 shortly before the former president bowed out of the race, Trump recently signaled his comfort with his takeover of Paramount and its assets, which in addition to CBS News include Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, The CW, MTV, BET and film franchises like “Smurfs” and “Sonic the Hedgehog.”
“Ellison is great. He’ll do a great job with it,” Trump said in June.
There is likely to be a sea change in the editorial direction of CBS News under its new ownership. In a recent filing, Ellison and Skydance said they’d told Carr that they were committed to pursuing a focus on “American storytelling” while touting a new, “unbiased” editorial direction for CBS News. Their meeting came shortly after Paramount agreed to settle Trump’s lawsuit.
It also came just days after CBS announced it was canceling “The Late Show,” currently hosted by Stephen Colbert — an announcement Trump praised on social media. Colbert had recently criticized the parent company’s multimillion-dollar settlement with Trump, while CBS said the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
There had been signs of an editorial shift ahead of the merger. Most notably, longtime “60 Minutes” editor Bill Owens announced he was stepping down this spring, citing CBS News’ fading editorial independence. Shortly after, CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon was pushed out. Last week, The New York Times reported Skydance was in early talks to acquire the conservative-leaning The Free Press media outlet. Meanwhile, “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart has said he did not know whether his program would survive the merger.
Skydance has spent years pursuing Paramount and eventually realized it could successfully execute the transaction by purchasing Paramount’s parent, National Amusements, the company once helmed by Sumner Redstone, the father of the company’s current chairwoman, president and CEO, Shari Redstone. Yet the proposed deal continued to face hurdles, first under the Biden administration then at the outset of Trump’s term. Its approval came in what was its third deadline extension period.
