Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said Monday that his state demanded Paramount fully divest CNN and CBS News as part of negotiations over the company’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Connecticut wanted and demanded full divestiture of CNN and CBS News,” Tong said in a statement. “We wanted to save ethical and independent journalism and news. We fought aggressively for that remedy. I am deeply disappointed that we could not do more.”
Instead, Paramount reached a settlement Monday with Connecticut, California and 10 other states that allows the company to retain both news organizations while establishing an independent editorial board intended to protect the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News.
The agreement cleared the final major legal hurdle for the merger, which Paramount CEO David Ellison told employees Monday is expected to close in approximately two weeks.
Tong said Connecticut had pushed for stronger protections throughout the negotiations and tied the urgency of the issue to President Donald Trump’s decision Friday to bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico journalists from the White House.
“Connecticut led the fight to the bitter end to protect the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News,” Tong said. “Especially after the President blocked CNN and other news organizations from the White House, this fight became immediate, critical and acute.”
CNN, MS NOW and Politico filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging the White House ban, arguing that the administration violated their First Amendment rights. The outlets are seeking a temporary restraining order restoring their journalists’ access.
Tong said that as recently as a week ago, Paramount had refused to agree to editorial independence protections.
“Now, we have secured an editorial board structure that will meaningfully help protect editorial independence for both news organizations, and it will be enforceable under the consent decree,” he said.
Under the settlement, the combined company must maintain editorial independence at CNN and CBS News through an independent board. The agreement also includes commitments on theatrical film releases and domestic production spending, among other provisions.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren also criticized the settlement Monday, arguing that the combination would give the new company too much power over the media business.
“Allowing one Trump-aligned, foreign-owned conglomerate to dominate American news and entertainment is a disastrous outcome,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement.
Warren accused the Trump administration of conducting an “apparently corrupt antitrust review process” and called the merger an “anti-monopoly disaster” that she said would result in higher prices and fewer jobs. She also said the combined company would be “a clear candidate for antitrust scrutiny in a future pro-competition Administration.”
Paramount declined TheWrap’s request for comment on Connecticut’s push for divestiture.
The settlement, which is pending court approval, would end the states’ effort to block the merger and allow Paramount to move forward with a combination that will put CNN and CBS News under the same corporate parent.
Tong blamed the federal government for limiting what the states could ultimately obtain through the litigation.
“The complete abdication of the federal government’s enforcement role in this fight left states with one arm tied behind our backs,” he said.
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