Trump's Side Deal With 'New Owners' of Paramount May Hint at FCC Concessions
In a Tuesday Truth Social post, Trump confirmed chatter of a side deal with the incoming Skydance regime that more than doubles the $16 million agreement that Paramount initially attached to the resolution of the case.
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Trump's announcement directly clashed with Paramount's characterization of the settlement. When the deal was announced earlier this month, it said that it has 'no knowledge of any promises or commitments made to President Trump other than those set forth in the settlement.'
Also on Tuesday: Lawyers for Trump and Paramount formalized the deal, with both sides moving to dismiss the lawsuit. The filing didn't include details of the settlement, unlike when ABC News reached an agreement to resolve a lawsuit from Trump over comments from Good Morning America and This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos. Per court documents, the two sides in that case explicitly laid out the terms of the deal, including timing of the payments.
There's not obligation to publicly disclose the details of a settlement, though the widespread belief that Paramount would settle what was widely believed to be a frivolous lawsuit to open a pathway to regulatory approval of its merger with Skydance necessitated some degree of transparency on what the agreement looked like. Those details came directly from the company when the deal was announced close to midnight on July 1 rather than court fillings.
Whether a party that's not formally a part of the litigation can participate in a settlement will be questioned. The Paramount-Skydance merger has not officially been greenlit. It's unknown whether the deal Trump announced is actually a part of his settlement with Paramount.
Rather, Trump's characterization of the deal could hint at expected concessions new Paramount will have to make for the FCC to approve the transfer of the company's broadcast licenses to Skydance. Talks are already underway, with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and its Hollywood Local 399 and the conservative public interest group the Center for American Rights playing a prominent part. The latter group has called for increased viewpoint diversity, meaning more promotion of conservative perspectives. Also in play: more ideological diversity on the company's board of directors and a requirement that CBS have an 'independent, well funded, empowered, balanced ombudsman or oversight board' that would monitor for bias. David Ellison has recently held talks about acquiring The Free Press, the online publication co-founded by Bari Weiss, The New York Times reported.
There's already legal blowback, with more expected down the road. The Freedom of the Press Foundation has sent to Paramount a demand for information related to its decision to settle, with plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of investors against controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and the board. Related are potential investigations by lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders into whether Paramount violated anti-bribery laws, though there's skepticism about how those legal actions will fare absent a smoking a gun.
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