FCC Seeks DEI Concessions From Paramount to Complete Skydance Merger

The Federal Communications Commission has reached out to Paramount Global about steps the company will need to take for its merger with Skydance Media to be approved.

According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the talks, the FCC will require the merged company to continue to abstain from any diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI), making good on public comments from Trump-appointed chair Brendan Carr last month promising to make DEI abolition a prerequisite for any M&A approval.

Representatives for Paramount declined TheWrap’s request for comment.

The company previously rolled back its DEI policies this past February to comply with the Trump Administration’s demands, and the FCC has also launched investigations of Disney and Comcast over its DEI policies.

“We can only under the statute move forward and approve a transaction if we find that doing so serves the public interest,” Carr said. “If there’s businesses out there that are still promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination, I really don’t see a path forward where the FCC could reach the conclusion that approving the transaction is going to be in the public interest.”

Regulatory review of the Paramount/Skydance merger has been stalled over the past few months, leading the two companies to extend their merger agreement for another 90 days earlier this month.

The uncertainty over the merger has spilled over into the company’s news division, as Paramount Global has been in settlement talks with Trump’s legal team over a $20 billion lawsuit against the company connected to a “60 Minutes” interview with former vice president Kamala Harris. While legal experts say that Trump has no legal standing in the lawsuit, multiple reports have cited that Paramount sees a settlement as key to ensuring government approval of the Skydance merger.

The CBS news program’s executive producer, Bill Owens, announced his resignation from “60 Minutes” earlier this week, citing corporate interference from Paramount Global’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone in stories that have investigated the Trump Administration such as its deportation of accused criminals to El Salvador without due process and its sweeping funding cuts to federal departments.

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