12 Democratic state AGs postpone Paramount Skydance Warner Bros Discovery merger until after antitrust trial or June 2027
Twelve Democratic-led states sued in July to block the Paramount Skydance $PSKY - Warner Bros. Discovery $WBD merger on antitrust grounds. A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order, and Paramount Skydance then agreed to postpone the deal until five days after an antit
A coalition of 12 Democratic-led state attorneys general, including California, New York, Washington and Massachusetts, sued in mid-July to block Paramount Skydance's $PSKY acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery $WBD, arguing that combining two of Hollywood's five major film studios and two of five cable channel owners would harm movie theaters, the cable industry and audiences. A federal judge in Oakland granted a temporary restraining order pausing the deal, and on July 24 Paramount Skydance agreed with the states to postpone the merger until five days after an antitrust trial concludes, or June 1, 2027, whichever comes first. The delay lands at an awkward moment for Warner Bros. Discovery, which reported an 11% drop in second-quarter revenue and lower profits, driven in part by losing the broadcast rights to NBA games and continued declines in its cable and film studio businesses, even as its streaming business keeps growing. The states are betting that blocking consolidation protects competition in a media market that still resembles the cable-era structure of decades past, while WBD's own numbers suggest the bigger threat to its position is scale, not a merger partner: without significant heft, it is competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video that did not exist when today's antitrust framework was built.