The Federal Communications Commission cannot approve what money has learned, perhaps until later this year, the $8 billion merger between Independent Studios Skydance and Shari Redstone's Paramount Global.
The committee presented a longer than expected schedule during a meeting with American Rights Center staff last week. This is a conservative group that has filed complaints alleging that the left-leaning CBS News subsidiary of a declining media company is violating the agency's “public interest” rules.
Sources say the meeting results will be that the FCC investigation will crush for months to determine what kind of so-called relief is needed to get the blessings of the agency before registering for the transaction.
“The committee has shown us that they will hurry and push through this and fully investigate our claim,” said Daniel Suer, president of the Center for Rights (CAR), with the money.
Last month, the FCC launched an investigation into allegedly deceptive compilation of the controversial Kamala Harris “60 Minutes” interview.
Subsequently, agency officials have reviewed their submissions by CAR and CBS News and have spoken with people on both sides.
As for money, I also learned that the network recently began hiring external lawyers in preparation for a long legal throw through the bureaucracy of FCC transaction approval.
It is unclear exactly where the FCC is leaning towards the case, but during last week's meeting, agency officials discussed with the car about possible relief measures that could lead to approval of the transaction, people at the meeting say.
These remedies include forcing CBS to move operations from the infamous progressive hubs in Los Angeles and New York. Another relief is to require media companies to start seeking political diversity by hiring conservative universities such as Hillsdale College.
If CBS agreed to them, the FCC could greenlight this deal faster, and those who attended spoke about the money.
Representatives from FCC, Paramount and Skydance declined to comment.
As reported previously, the FCC has set a match delay date for public comments on this issue. Now, except for the party-to-party settlement, Shari Redstone may have to cool her high heels for longer before she leaves with her huge payday from the sale of a once-popular media empire.
FCC deal Snafu has never seen Paramount or Skydance after the emergency off-gain merger talk that followed months before the daughter of legendary media mogul Sumner Redstone finally agreed to sell the sputtering conglomerate her father created last year.
Her decision became the once enormous wealth of the family as the codecutting and structural changes in the business began to be consumed by profit margins. Redstone is expected to rake for nearly $2 billion once the transaction is closed.
Skydance is run by David Ellison, and the company has produced hits such as “Top Gun: Maverick.” His plan is to rebuild the programming and operations of Paramount, including brands such as film studios and CBS. And he has the money to make it work. His father is Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, one of the wealthiest men in the world.
Larry Ellison is also President Trump's best friend, but that doesn't discourage Donald's new FCC chairman, Brendan Kerr, from delaying a deal on concerns that CBS News' left-wing bias is violating FCC public interest rules. In addition to promoting approval in the second half of 2025 with first-hand knowledge of deliberations, Carr's investigation adds substantial legal costs to the transaction, according to the government and the people of Wall Street. Carr may demand that CBS reduce DEI policies, with what money has learned.
The FCC, the top regulator of Big Media, is one of the government agencies responsible for the Green Light Merger. One consideration when regulating the radio waves used by broadcasters like CBS is to follow public interest regulations and refrain from distorting the news. FCC surveillance will not be extended to cable broadcasting stations.
Last year, CAR filed two complaints with the FCC, sparking a wide-ranging investigation into accusations that CBS News' “60 Minutes” compiled an October 7 interview with Harris to make her better during the 2024 campaign.
CBS News has been attacked by conservatives for years on left-wing bias in programming. Recently, the fever came when Margaret Brennan, one of the anchors, Face the Nation, became reserved for Secretary Marcolbio about comments made by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference. Vance criticized Germany's current progressive government for censoring conservatives and Brennan's free speech, suggesting that freedom of speech is the cause of the Holocaust.
However, CBS's (and, by extension, Skydance-Paramount) has a more pressing issue with the FCC, which comes from a “60-minute” interview... She is famous for her words and slang answers. In fact, CBS previously aired a promotion for Harris' interviews. There, her answers to questions about the Middle East appeared to be significantly less consistent than what was ultimately aired.
President Trump, then-GOP presidential candidate, filed a lawsuit alleging that “60 minutes” had tried to inappropriately support the Harris campaign. Trump demanded the release of the full transcript on top of financial damage.
Early February, and under pressure from the FCC, Trump got half of what he wanted. CBS has released a fully unedited transcript and video of Harris' sit-in with Clector Rep Bill Whitaker. CBS denied a seemingly edited the work, and is said to be in early stage negotiations to settle the $20 billion lawsuit.
There was little doubt that “60 Minutes” actually edited Harris' answers, but the public's response to the transcript broke along the boundaries of ideology. Trump recently said the full transcript demonstrated that CBS was dirty with selective editing, “scamming the public” and news magazines “should be fired immediately.”
Sources close to the FCC chair say about money that Carr “will never approve of this at all” as they believe CRS is mercilessly biased in programming and goes beyond the “60 minute” interview.
Carr did not reply to a request for comment.
