Paramount buys its way past 12 attorneys general
A $110 billion merger clears its last real obstacle with film quotas, an independent board for CNN, and a $47.5 million workforce fund.
Paramount has settled the antitrust lawsuit brought by California and eleven other states over its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, removing the last significant obstacle to a deal that reshapes American entertainment. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the settlement at a press conference in Los Angeles on Monday, September 21, 2026.
The proposed consent decree, filed in the Northern District of California, is unusually specific about what the combined company must keep doing. Paramount commits to a minimum slate of thirty films a year for two years, rising to thirty-two for the three after that, with at least twenty in wide release and at least four independent. It agrees to spend at least $300 million more a year on United States film production than it did in 2025 — roughly $1.5 billion over the life of the agreement — and to hold a forty-five-day theatrical window with no streaming release inside ninety days.
Miss those numbers and the penalties bite: a forced divestiture of its stake in Miramax, plus $30 million into Hollywood guild healthcare and retirement plans for every film short of the commitment. There is also a $47.5 million workforce development fund and an obligation to honor existing collective bargaining agreements.
The concession that will be argued about longest is editorial. The decree establishes a board intended to protect the independence of CNN and CBS News, the answer to a year of objections from press freedom groups about David Ellison's ownership and his family's political proximity. Notably, the company will not have to sell cable networks.
Four attorneys general — New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Nevada — held out into Sunday for more, and came around after Bonta promised to keep Paramount's feet to the fire on delivery. The Writers Guild's own suit is folded into the settlement.
Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav told staff the merger should close no later than early October. What emerges then is a single company holding Paramount's studios, CBS, and Paramount+, alongside Warner's studios, HBO, and HBO Max — one of the largest advertising and content portfolios in the market, and a brand architecture problem of remarkable size.
Kyle Duford, Founder & Editor, BRNDWIRE. More from Kyle →
