{"id":2518,"date":"2026-06-19T14:34:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2518"},"modified":"2026-06-19T14:34:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T14:34:50","slug":"democratic-senators-urge-fcc-to-block-closing-of-paramount-warner-bros-merger-until-review-of-deals-foreign-investment-concludes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=2518","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Senators Urge FCC to Block Closing of Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Until Review of Deal\u2019s Foreign Investment Concludes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThree Democratic U.S. senators are urging the FCC to prevent Paramount Skydance from closing its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery until the government\u2019s national security review of the foreign investors in the deal has run its course.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn a letter dated June 18 sent to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, the lawmakers \u2014 Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) \u2014 cited Paramount\u2019s April 24 petition seeking a declaratory ruling from the FCC for approval of \u201csignificant foreign investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBooker, Warren and Schiff requested that the FCC, by July 1, issue \u201cformal notice to Paramount that the transaction may not close\u201d while the review of the foreign investments is proceeding.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount in that filing disclosed that the merged Paramount-WBD would be\u00a049.5% owned by foreign investors, with about 38.5% of the equity in the new company owned by the\u00a0sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. In addition, Paramount\u2019s filing asked the FCC to authorize up to 100% foreign equity ownership in its broadcast licensees.<\/p>\n

\n\tCongress set a 25% limit on direct foreign ownership of American TV and radio stations without prior FCC approval. The senators, in their June 18 letter to Carr, noted, \u201cUnder FCC rulemaking and procedures, the Commission must now coordinate, through the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, with other executive branch agencies to assess the potential national security and foreign policy risks posed by that foreign ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe senators wrote in the letter: \u201cThe Commission has an obligation to honestly answer a fundamental question: whether placing 49.5 percent of the equity in the parent company of CBS, CNN, and 28 broadcast television stations into the hands of three foreign governments serves the American public. We are prepared to pursue every available avenue \u2014 legislative, oversight, and legal \u2014 to ensure that it does.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nVariety<\/em> has reached out to the FCC for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeparately, on June 12, the Justice Department\u2019s Antitrust Division announced that it was closing its investigation into Paramount-WBD, without imposing any requirements for divestitures or other concessions on the part of Paramount Skydance. Senior DOJ officials moved to clear the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal before the team of lawyers investigating the matter could issue a recommendation \u2014 and those lawyers had been \u201cleaning\u201d toward advising that the DOJ should file a lawsuit seeking to block the merger, the Wall Street Journal reported. Asked for comment on the Journal report, a DOJ spokesperson said: \u201cThe Antitrust Division conducted a thorough investigation to assess whether the proposed transaction would harm competition. The investigatory record indicated that the transaction will increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, benefiting American consumers and workers.\u201d In response to the WSJ report, Warren said in a statement, \u201cThe American people need to know if this merger was approved as a political favor. This reeks of corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn March, Booker and six other Democratic senators wrote to Carr demanding the FCC conduct a \u201cthrough review\u201d of the Paramount-WBD deal\u2019s foreign investment and raised concerns about Carr\u2019s public comments that the foreign investment warranted only a \u201cvery quick, almost pro-forma review.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the June 18 letter, the three senators noted, \u201cParamount\u2019s petition seeks far more than approval for the 49.5 percent aggregate foreign investment. The media conglomerate is requesting advance approval for each foreign investor to increase its individual stake up to 20 percent in the future, which, should each of the Sovereign Wealth Funds exercise that option, could result in up to 100 percent aggregate foreign ownership of one of the nation\u2019s largest broadcast media companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tWhile such advance approval is standard as a procedural matter, \u201cthe nature of the request is unprecedented,\u201d Booker, Warren and Schiff wrote. \u201cIt seeks open-ended authorization for foreign government expansion into the parent company of CBS, CNN, and 28 broadcast television stations. Advance approval was never designed to authorize the wholesale transfer of control over one of America\u2019s most consequential news organizations to foreign government-linked investors absent a finding that such a transfer serves the public interest and does not threaten national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount Skydance has said in SEC filings that the three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds \u201chave agreed to forgo any governance rights \u2014 including board representation \u2014 associated with their non-voting equity investments.\u201d The company maintains that the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners will have 100% control over a merger Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe senators said the FCC should reject Paramount\u2019s request to allow up to 100% foreign ownership of Paramount-Warner Bros. \u201cout of hand.\u201d They wrote: \u201cParamount\u2019s assertion that this transaction \u2018will not present any national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, or trade policy concerns\u2019 is not a legal determination the Commission may accept without scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe three senators noted in their letter that Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, \u201cwhom the U.S. intelligence community concluded ordered the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tOn April 29, the Justice Department\u2019s National Security Division notified the FCC that the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector had begun its review of the Paramount petition seeking a waiver of foreign-ownership rules. According to the three Democratic senators, under the timeline, the committee\u2019s review could take until late September to conclude \u2014 and if it identifies potential national security risks, a second 90-day assessment period would follow.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cParamount\u2019s stated intention to close the deal by July is flatly incompatible with a statutorily required national security review that may not yet have begun,\u201d the senators wrote in the letter to Carr. \u201cAdditionally, Paramount has publicly characterized its FCC filing as not a condition of closing, signaling its intent to complete the acquisition before the Commission has made a public interest determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn their letter to Carr, Booker, Warren and Schiff also asked the FCC to confirm that the review by the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector is underway and to \u201cprovide a projected timeline for its completion.\u201d The senators also requested that the FCC \u201cconfirm whether Attorney General [Todd] Blanche is serving as Chair of the Committee for purposes of this review, and if he has not recused himself, identify the basis on which he is participating in a national security review with direct financial implications for sovereign wealth funds with documented ties to the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Canary Islands\u2019 Documentary Voices Look Outward as Sector Gains Range<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe full text of the senators\u2019 letter is at .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three Democratic U.S. senators are urging the FCC to prevent Paramount Skydance from closing its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery until the government’s national security review of the foreign investors in the deal has run its course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[2144,432,433,434],"class_list":["post-2518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biz","tag-cory-booker","tag-fcc","tag-paramount-skydance","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"yoast_head":"\nDemocratic Senators Urge FCC to Block Closing of Paramount-Warner Bros. 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