Paramount and State AGs Defend Merger Settlement Against Senator Booker’s Objections

Paramount and twelve state attorneys general responded to Sen. Cory Booker’s recent objections, maintaining that the antitrust consent decree negotiated with Warner Bros. Discovery is robust and includes enforceable guarantees of annual film releases, removing concerns about post-merger output cuts. They emphasized that a five-year term balances current competition preservation with the uncertainty of future consumer demand and technological change, arguing that a longer term could hinder the merged entity’s ability to compete.

Booker’s criticism also targeted the editorial independence board slated to oversee several outlets, questioning its autonomy because Paramount would appoint its members. The states countered that the board’s structure does not raise First Amendment issues and that the decree defines its composition, not its speech. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin has ordered the parties to address Booker’s letter and has received amicus briefs from the Block the Merger coalition and the League of United Latin American Citizens, but she has not yet issued a final ruling.