A group of Democratic senators urged Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr to conduct a “rigorous and thorough review” of the foreign wealth funds helping to finance Paramount‘s deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, warning the funding could give countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar an “unprecedented degree of foreign control of U.S. broadcasting.”
“The scale, concentration, and scope of this proposal raise serious questions,” six senators, led by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), wrote to Carr on Wednesday. “Foreign governments hostile to a free and independent press could exert unprecedented influence over a media conglomerate vital to American journalism and culture.”
The other signatories include Sens. Ed Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO). The letter follows a similar note Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and other senators sent to the FCC in March.
A Paramount spokesperson told TheWrap the deal was not subject to FCC scrutiny and its petition for a declaratory ruling to approve its foreign investments would be reviewed by officials from the departments of justice, homeland security and defense.
“When the transaction and equity syndication close, the Ellison family and RedBird will collectively hold the largest equity stake in the combined company, and the Ellison family will continue to control the company and all of its voting shares,” the spokesperson said.
This week’s letter points to Paramount’s disclosure that foreign investors would own 49.5% of the merged company, with roughly 38.% owned by wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Tencent, a Chinese holding company, is also an investor.
Paramount asked the FCC last month to issue a declaratory ruling to approve the foreign investments and authorize up to 100% of foreign equity ownership in the company’s broadcast licenses, which includes CBS.
“Paramount’s petition asks for an unprecedented degree of foreign control of U.S. broadcasting,” the lawmakers wrote, claiming the countries could have access to Americans’ financial and personal information and potentially influence the company’s content. “The FCC has never approved a significant ownership stake of an American broadcaster by a sovereign wealth fund — that is, an investment entity controlled by a foreign government.”
The group pointed to Carr’s past skepticism of TikTok’s Chinese ownership and his objection to the transfer of radio stations without “plans to wall off the unvetted foreign interests,” claiming they were at odds with his current position that the agency had a “very minimal” role in reviewing the deal’s foreign investments.
“These comments raise questions about your impartiality and the rigor of the Commission’s review of this unprecedented foreign investment,” the senators wrote. “Given the well-documented hostility against a free press in their own countries, we have serious doubts that paving the way for these anti-democratic governments to own between 49.5% and 100% of an American media empire serves the ‘public interest.’”
Carr said during a Wednesday press conference after the FCC’s monthly meeting that the agency was “running regular course process” in reviewing the deal, including seeking public comments. He noted the FCC had no role in reviewing the overall deal, though he said the foreign investments would trigger some oversight by the interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, has said the agency needs to closely scrutinize the foreign investments.
