Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín has granted the Block the Merger coalition’s emergency motion for an opportunity to file amicus briefs formally opposing Paramount’s settlement with 12 state attorneys general to resolve litigation against the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
The order notes that all amicus briefs must be filed on the docket by no later than 12:01 a.m. PT on Friday.
“This deadline will not be extended, and tardy submissions will not be considered. Amicus briefs may not exceed 10 pages,” Martínez-Olguín wrote. “Any non-party who additionally seeks to file an amicus brief in this case must file their own administrative motions for leave to do so, and they will face the same 12:01 a.m. deadline and 10-page limit.”
The order comes as Martínez-Olguín has already set a hearing for Thursday at 11 a.m. PT to address “certain outstanding questions regarding the factual and legal underpinnings” of the proposed settlement, as well as its implementation.
“The consent decree the state AGs agreed to in a backroom deal is weak, unenforceable, and leaves workers, journalists, and consumers in the dust,” Block the Merger said in a statement to TheWrap. “The settlement fails to address the grave dangers this merger poses — and no amount of spin can change that. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín’s ruling will allow the public to weigh in on this important issue and ensure the interests of those who will actually pay the price for the Ellisons’ sweetheart deal that the AGs failed to adequately represent are heard. We look forward to explaining that in further detail in our brief due at midnight tonight.”
In its filing on Thursday morning, the Block the Merger coalition proposed a briefing schedule through Oct. 13, which would put Paramount 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.”
“Their proposed submissions do not offer the Court information or perspective that the existing record does not already supply,” the media giant added.
The settlement, which the parties agreed to on Monday, includes 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.
Failure to comply with the various commitments in the settlement range from a $30 million penalty per film that misses the theatrical goal to forced divestitures of the company’s 49% Miramax stake within a 12-month period as well as BET, Comedy Central, VH1, Smithsonian, Destination America and Science Channel within a 120-day period.
But the Block the Merger coalition argues that the settlement is “weak and unenforceable.”
“We believe the consent decree fails to meaningfully address or mitigate the harms that will be caused by this monopoly merger to the entertainment industry, diverse storytelling, independent filmmaking, consumer interests, a free press, First Amendment rights, and fundamentally, democracy,” Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Steering Committee for the Committee for the First Amendment and First Amendment litigator, said in a statement. “It does not serve to benefit anyone except the owner family of Paramount and those holding political power who will use this corporate consolidation as a proxy force for First Amendment suppression of disfavored expression and viewpoints.”
“Hundreds of thousands of people across the country called on state attorneys general to enforce the law and to protect consumers, workers and free speech,” Free Press Co-CEO Jessica J. González, who serves as co-counsel on the motion, added. “The weak and unenforceable deal the AGs struck with Paramount leaves us in the lurch. We deserve our day in court.”
In addition to The Committee for the First Amendment and Free Press, other groups participating in the motion include the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Future Film Coalition and International Documentary Association. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) have also filed a separate legal motion to address concerns with the consent decree.
The settlement with the state AGs comes after Paramount already received clearance from Warner Bros. shareholders and regulators and governments representing 68 jurisdictions, including the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission, the European Commission and the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority.
In addition to the concessions in the U.S., Paramount agreed to concessions in the U.K. and Europe, including terminating its stake in United International Pictures a commitment not to combine linear channels with its streaming services and maintain the editorial independence of its news services and children’s networks and to provide more funding to Channel 5 to support high-quality news, original children’s programming and drama.
It also reached a separate resolution with the WGA, including a five-year layoff pause at CBS and a $17.5 million health fund contribution.
