The Freedom of the Press Foundation has accused Paramount of blocking an ad targeting its pending $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery and President Donald Trump’s “crooked meddling in media transactions to extract favorable coverage.”
FPF said that the ad, which was blocked due to a “conflict of interest,” would have run on Paramount+ during the UFC Freedom 250 event on Sunday, which was broadcast live from the White House on Trump’s 80th birthday. Paramount CEO David Ellison notably attended the event.
The ad takes aim at concessions made by the Ellisons to secure regulatory approval of the Paramount Skydance merger. It also cites accusations made by recently fired “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley that CBS demanded his stories include “falsehoods and bias” to appease the president. Additionally, the ad includes a quote from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying “the sooner the Ellisons take over that network, the better” in response to their acquisition of CNN as part of the merger.
“Ellison has already shown his cards on editorial independence, but in case there was any doubt, his company has now declined to air a straightforward message about what his proposed takeover of CNN, HBO, and other outlets would mean for press freedom,” FPF advocacy chief Seth Stern said in a statement. “Ellison won’t air criticism of himself, his company, or his buddy Trump. That’s bad for press freedom, bad for the public, and bad for Paramount — just look at CBS’ recent struggles under Ellison’s watch. Billionaires who don’t respect the First Amendment should stay out of the news business.”
Stern added that Paramount “apparently sees no conflict of interest in promising the Trump administration editorial concessions in exchange for merger approvals, in throwing fancy dinner parties honoring Trump while he attacks CBS and CNN journalists, or in airing a UFC event which functioned as an hours-long commercial for Donald Trump and Truth Social.”
Representatives for Paramount did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
You can watch the ad yourself in the video below.
The advertisement comes as the merger was recently approved by senior leadership at the Department of Justice, despite some career staffers who were reportedly leaning towards recommending a lawsuit to block the deal.
The regulator’s approval of the deal comes after the agency’s Hart-Scott-Rodino review period expired in February. It also follows the deal securing shareholder approval in April, as well as clearance from regulators in Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Serbia and North Macedonia and foreign direct investment authorities in Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Czechia, Italy, France and Romania.
Despite the DOJ’s approval, regulatory hurdles surrounding the Paramount-WBD merger remain. The European Commission and the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority have formally launched reviews of the deal. Ellison previously met with U.K. Secretary of Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy and other European regulators in January. The EC and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission are also reviewing the foreign investment in the deal, with those investors set to account for 49.5% equity of the combined company.
The EC has set an initial deadline of July 7 to decide whether to clear or order a Phase 2 investigation of the merger and a July 14 deadline on its foreign investment review. The CMA will decide on whether to launch a Phase 2 investigation by Aug. 7.
In addition to federal and international regulators, a group of U.S. state attorneys general led by California’s Rob Bonta are also reviewing the deal and preparing to take legal action to block the merger as soon as this month.
Bonta previously told TheWrap that “red flags are everywhere when you have a merger of this type” and that the states are prepared to “act timely,” but declined to provide a specific timeline for when a decision could be made. In an X post on Friday, Bonta said that the merger is “not a done deal and remains under investigation” by the California DOJ.
Paramount previously disclosed that it was cooperating with the state AGs after receiving subpoenas, or civil investigative demands, from various states that focus on the investigation by the Department of Justice and the competitive effects of the merger. It does not disclose which or how many state AGs sent subpoenas.
The Paramount-WBD merger is on track to close by the end of the third quarter. In the event the transaction does not close by Sept. 30, WBD shareholders will receive a 25 cent per share “ticking fee” for each quarter until closing. In the event that the deal does not close at all due to regulatory matters, Paramount will pay WBD a $7 billion termination fee.
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