Skydance Media CEO David Ellison met the president of the FCC, Brendan Carr and other members of agency staff, to discuss the company’s merger on the merger with Global Paramount, where the subjects included media coverage, this week.
According to a file with the FCC, Ellison and his legal advisor, Matthew A. Brill, met the FCC officials on Tuesday, and they “discussed Skydance’s commitment to impartial journalism and its adoption of various points of view, the principles that will guarantee the editorial decision -making of CBS reflect the varied ideological views of American viewers.”
According to the file, Ellison and Brill “have explained that the Ellison and Redbird family represent a new leadership with the vision and experience necessary to stimulate the long -term growth of New Paramount in the face of the challenges presented by the media landscape today, while preserving and improving the reference and a large extent of the national television CBS Network and the 28 local stations possessed of the company.”.
The file also said that Ellison and Brill discussed the “commitment of their business to promote non-discrimination and equal opportunities for employment at New Paramount, ensuring that the company is fully in line with the law”. One of the main concerns of Carr was the initiatives of “diversity, equity and inclusion” of the companies which he described as “discrimination invites”. He suggested that companies that maintain dei policies would find it difficult to guarantee regulatory approval.
Critics of the proposed merger have also encountered officials of the FCC. This includes Project Rise Partners, an investment group that sought to make a rival offer for Paramount Global after the end of the “Go-Shop” period of 45 days last summer. Among other things, Project Rise had raised concerns concerning the interest of the property of Tencent de China in the Skydance agreement.
According to the Skydance file, Ellison and Brill “refute erroneous claims concerning Chinese influence on Redbird and New Paramount and have reiterated that Tencent will only hold non -voted and passive actions to buy free of charge on the NASDAQ), according to rights or IT rights and therefore no capacity to influence the new operation”.
The FCC is day 245 of its transaction exam. The agency establishes a 180 -day calendar for revisions, but it is not linked by it.
Earlier this month, Paramount Global announced a regulation with Donald Trump of his $ 20 billion trial against CBS on the way that 60 minutes published his interview with Kamala Harris. Paramount said that the regulations were not linked to the FCC merger exam.
But Carr said that a complaint that had been filed with the FCC about the 60 minutes The interview was “likely to occur” in the context of the merger examination. The group which filed the complaint, the Center for American Rights, also met FCC officials, raising questions concerning alleged prejudices, including recent comments in a departure address by 60 minutes Corresponding Scott Pelley.
Carr did not give any indication of the end of the FCC exam. An FCC spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comments.
Anna Gomez, the only FCC democrat, urged all the commissioners on the merger, not just the FCC media office.
