Joining The Deal-Blocking Fray
In what has to be the least surprising legal action of the year (so far), the official word came down yesterday that a dozen state attorneys general were filing a lawsuit in federal court to block the $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount-Skydance.
The coalition includes Arizona, California (whose AG, Rob Bonta, is leading the charge on this action), Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.
OK, maybe the fact that all of this “baker’s dozen” of top lawyers in these states were all Democratic was maybe even less surprising. (Though, to be fair, not all of those states would be considered Democratic strongholds. Both Arizona and Nevada went for Donald Trump in the 2024 election.)
As California AG Bonta put it in his explanation to Variety.com:
“Giving that much power to one media company would wipe out competition, jack up prices, hurt the quality of content we’re offered, and bring fewer movies and shows to our screens. Combining cable news channels would mean fewer journalists informing our electorate and fewer opportunities for Americans to hear the full breadth of information and opinions on a subject. Consolidation would mean fewer voices speaking truth to power and fewer documentarians, filmmakers, showrunners, producers, writers, and artists shedding light on important stories that too often go untold.”
All of which sounds like it would justify Bonta’s declaration that the deal is “a death knell for the film and TV industry — and for our democracy.”
At least Perry Sook wasn’t labeled as being that anti-democratic by the California AG. His deal to combine Nexstar and TEGNA was only called: “A gut punch to a thriving democracy that relies on an informed population.”
Whatever threat to American journalism that might be concerning about the Nexstar-TEGNA combination doesn’t seem to be as prevalent in the creation of a merged “WarnerMount,” as it is being called in some circles. The whole specter of rolling Paramount’s CBS News together with WBD’s CNN got only minimal reference in Bonta’s remarks.
Obviously, being potentially deprived of some movie titles and the production business that supports them is of more importance in the state where Hollywood lives, even if it is also the one that Jimmy Kimmel calls home.
And we’re not exactly sure which cable news channels Bonta thinks get combined in the proposed WBD-Paramount merger? CBS News is a broadcast-centric operation compared to CNN’s cable & satellite distribution. Both are struggling to reach large audiences with their streaming offerings on digital platforms.
That doesn’t pose the more ominous threat of local markets seeing fewer local news offerings that the Nexstar-TEGNA deal is being scrutinized for. Legal minds we have talked with tend to concur that the legal case that Perry Sook will be fighting for the next year is stronger than the one that David Ellison’s lawyers will be racking up millions of dollars’ worth of billable hours to defend.
Not to mention the millions of dollars that Paramount-Skydance will owe if it doesn’t close on Warner Bros. Discovery by September 30th. After that date, the so-called “ticking fee” is a cool $7 million every single day afterward.
Sheesh, at least Perry is getting to rake in those TEGNA profits as a wholly owned subsidiary of Nexstar at least until he gets a judgment in federal court, which isn’t likely before this time next year.
And we continue to believe that Mr. Sook and his reassembling of the band of heavyweight leadership to complete the full assimilation of TEGNA into “the gigantic Nexstar” have more than one plan for getting the majority of what they want approved by the federal courts.
Kara Swisher’s favorite media columnist, Puck’s Dylan Byers, wrote yesterday that the notable lack of legal concerns expressed by “The Dirty Dozen” of state AGs about David Ellison and his editor-in-chief at CBS News, Bari Weiss, getting their hands on CNN was “both remarkable and wholly unsurprising.” He went so far as to label his main article on the subject: “Let CNN & CBS News Eat Their Cake.”
While we are unabashed fans of Ms. Swisher, it does seem, in reading Mr. Byers’ take on things, that he may be carrying a little water for the much maligned Ms. Weiss and her reign at the former “Tiffany Network.” He posited this opinion:
“Meanwhile, at the risk of drawing the ire of some already voluble critics, any honest assessment of Bari’s tenure at CBS News should be able to discern that, the “Inside CECOT” debacle notwithstanding, she’s not actually transforming it into a MAGA-fied right-wing network. (Seriously, folks, watch it.)”
For the record, Dylan, we actually have. And while it doesn’t appear that CBS News has yet moved to the right of Newsmax, it sure hasn’t improved much in the Weiss era. And we’re still waiting to see what the final product ends up looking like on both the CBS Morning and Evening News, let alone the next season of “60 Minutes.”
But come the fall, that iconic ticking stopwatch may be marking a lot more of David Ellison’s money going out the door to pay for trying to grow his media empire.
And from his vantage point, Perry Sook has got to feel like his much smaller, yet still stalled deal, is something of a bargain.
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