California Attorney General Says Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery Deal Needs Structural Remedies; Trial in

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said any settlement of the antitrust lawsuit involving Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery must include "strong structural remedies." In an interview Thursday, Bonta said the states that brought the lawsuit want to address the three markets identified in the complaint, which they believe involve antitrust violations. He said Paramount has sought to steer discussion toward the streaming market, CNN and foreign regulators, but those are not the focus of the allegations.

Bonta and attorneys general from 11 other states filed the lawsuit in July seeking to block Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. The other states are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington. Paramount originally planned to complete the deal by September 30 but has agreed to postpone the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery to June 2027. The case is scheduled for trial in March.

Bonta said he would prefer to resolve the case in a conference room rather than a courtroom, but the litigation is proceeding. The lawsuit focuses on the size of the combined company, which it argues would control nearly one-third of films and nearly one-third of basic cable programming. A merger would combine the film studios of Warner Bros and Paramount, along with a vast television network portfolio including Paramount's CBS broadcast network, MTV and BET pay-TV channels, and Warner Bros Discovery's CNN and Discovery, while also merging the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming platforms.