The FCC has approved Skydance’s $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global. According to the FCC, Skydance has made written commitments to ensure its news and entertainment programming “will embody a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum and that CBS’s reporting will be fair, unbiased, and fact-based.”
As part of this, Skydance commits, for a period of at least two years, to have in place an ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias. The ombudsman will report to the president of the new Paramount. Paramount will remove all DEI policies and Skydance will not implement any at the merged entity.
Brendan Carr, chairman of the FCC, said in a statement: “Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network. In particular, Skydance has made written commitments to ensure that the new company’s programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum. Skydance will also adopt measures that can root out the bias that has undermined trust in the national news media. These commitments, if implemented, would enable CBS to operate in the public interest and focus on fair, unbiased, and fact-based coverage. Doing so would begin the process of earning back Americans’ trust. Today’s decision also marks another step forward in the FCC’s efforts to eliminate invidious forms of DEI discrimination. And Skydance’s commitment to enhancing local news and reporting—coverage valued by the public—will also inure to the benefit of the American people.”
Meanwhile, Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy will depart the company once the merger is completed. McCarthy’s exit comes less than four months after he assumed the co-CEO role alongside George Cheeks and Brian Robbins in April 2024, following the departure of former CEO Bob Bakish during initial negotiations with Skydance. McCarthy, who also served as president of Showtime/MTV Entertainment and oversaw streaming services Paramount+ and Pluto TV, was a key figure during a period of executive reshuffling and strategic repositioning for the company.
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