Multiple groups from within the Block the Merger coalition successfully submitted an amicus brief ahead of deadline, urging a federal court in California to outright reject Paramount’s settlement with 12 state attorneys general.
Free Press, the Committee for the First Amendment, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Future Film Coalition and the International Documentary Association filed their documents late Thursday night after Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted an emergency motion earlier that day following Monday’s consent decree.
“The Attorney General for the lead Plaintiff State, California, publicly criticized the very behavioral remedies that the parties now ask the Court to approve,” the groups wrote. “But whatever the reasons for the States’ about-face, neither time nor circumstance changes the fact that this merger lessens competition.”
“The structure of the proposed consent decree puts Plaintiff States in the position of simultaneously representing two sets of stakeholders whose fundamental interests trade off,” their brief continued. “That is precisely the kind of conflict that makes representation inadequate and a settlement procedurally unfair.”
“Since the terms of the consent decree were announced on Monday morning, few outside of those with a financial interest in this deal have suggested that it addresses the harms to competition, creativity, and independent journalism this merger will cause for years to come. The deal has been met with silence, skepticism, or tepid support at best,” the five organizations added in a joint statement on Friday. “The arguments laid out in this brief reflect the concerns that just days ago, California Attorney General Bonta also willingly voiced. While we may never know what caused the radical turnabout to deliver such a toothless settlement, we do know that this consent decree bucks governmental safeguards designed to protect the public from harm. The court should reject it outright.”
Additionally, The League of United Latin American Citizens and Reverends Dr. Boise Kimber and Dr. Xavier L. Thompson have filed their own amicus briefs with similar concerns, while Sen. Cory Booker also submitted relevant paperwork ahead of the 12:01 a.m. Friday deadline.
“The failure of this settlement to provide any enforceable remedies to the loss of competition and diverse voices and perspectives across our media landscape is unacceptable,” LULAC CEO Juan Proaño added. “The Latino community will pay an outsized price for the failures within this settlement if it is allowed to go forward. The court should reject the proposal and instead grant a hearing to allow the voices and concerns of our community to be heard.”
In their initial Thursday morning filing, the Block the Merger coalition proposed a briefing schedule through Oct. 13, which would put Paramount back on the hook for a $7 million per day ticking fee starting Oct. 1. In a separate filing, the David Ellison-led media giant knocked the request as “improper” and warned it would force them to “incur tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars of payments while adding nothing to the record.”
The settlement includes Paramount-WBD commitments to invest in domestic TV and film production, release at least 30 films a year in theaters and negotiate the distribution agreements for each company’s suite of cable networks separately. The combined company also must set up an independent editorial board to oversee the CNN and CBS News operations and continue to operate Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio lots for five years, among other things.
