Plaintiffs Make Last Ditch Effort To Halt Paramount
Deadline • • general
Key Points:
- Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan denied a last-minute petition to block the merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, allowing the transaction to proceed as scheduled on Tuesday.
- Petitioners argued the merger remained anticompetitive despite conditions from a recent state attorneys general settlement, which included safeguards like maintaining separate lots and creating an editorial-independence board.
- The petition faced strong legal setbacks, having been rejected by both the district court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, with courts citing lack of evidence and concerns over plaintiffs’ standing.
- The plaintiffs sought to preserve separate ownership and prohibit integration pending further legal review, emphasizing potential harm to competition protected under the Clayton Act.
- The merger settlement mandates a schedule of over 30 theatrical releases annually and separate negotiations for Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery cable channels, aiming to address competitive concerns.
