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United States regulators approved the $8.4 billion (€7.16 billion) merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media on Thursday, making way for a contentious sale.
The deal puts the CBS broadcast television netowrk, Paramount Pictures and the Nickelodeon channels under Skydance Founder and Chief Executive Officer David Ellison.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the deal in a 2-1 vote after receiving pledges that Skydance would install an ombudsman to evaluate complaints of editorial bias or other concerns about CBS.
Democrat Anna Gomez, the only dissenter, accused Paramount of "cowardly capitulation" to the Trump administration.
Trump vs free press
The FCC approval comes soon after Paramount paid $16 million (€13.63 million) to settle a lawsuit US President Donald Trump filed against the company and CBS News. Trump's critics have accused him of holding the merger deal's approval as leverage in the lawsuit.
This lawsuit was primarily over the election coverage on CBS News' flagship show "60 minutes." In it, Trump accused the media outlet of biased editing of an interview of his opponent Kamala Harris.
CBS also canceled "The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert" last week, after the lead comedian called the lawsuit settlement as "a big fat bribe" to obtain approval for the merger.
The media house said nixing the decades-old show, previously hosted by David Letterman, was purely a financial decision. However, Trump celebrated the news on social media, saying: "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings."
Democrats question 'timing'
Trump's critics have sharply criticized the timing of the FCC decision.
"The timing speaks for itself," Democratic Senators Edward Markey and Ben Ray Lujan said in a joint statement. "Paramount settled with Trump on Tuesday and the FCC approved the merger on Thursday," they said, adding that the approval "reeks of the worst form of corruption."
"CBS canceled Colbert's show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on social media platform X.
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru
