FCC tells Paramount ‘drop DEI’ to get merger
April 25, 2025
The FCC ‘has engaged’ with executives at Paramount in order to discuss what will help win approval for its proposed deal to merge with Skydance Media.
Conversations between FCC officials and Paramount executives involve the media company’s diversity and equity initiatives (DEI), according to the WSJ. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has openly criticised DEI, recently telling Bloomberg: “Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
Additionally, Carr has said that a complaint over the way an interview with Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris on an episode of 60 Minutes was conducted could also be considered as part of the review process. US President Donald Trump is suing CBS News for $20 billion, alleging the broadcaster favourably edited a response in which Harris discussed the Israel/Gaza conflict. CBS journalists were perturbed this week when Paramount entered arbitration with Trump with a view to a potential settlement of the suit.
The Paramount-Skydance merger has cleared other regulatory hurdles. But part of the transaction involves the transfer of Paramount’s local TV broadcast licences to Skydance, which the FCC must rubber stamp. CBS, as a broadcast network, is not subject to the FCC’s rules, but local stations owned by CBS are, as they are licensed by the federal agency.
A merger deal was first announced in summer 2024, with little progress made since.
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