Media Consolidation Approved: FCC Greenlights $8 Billion Paramount-Skydance Merger

The FCC voted 2-1 on July 24, 2025, to approve the $8 billion merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media, ending a review process of more than 250 days marked by controversy. The lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, dissented; the deal closed on August 7, 2025.

The approval matters because it came just weeks after Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview, and shortly after CBS canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, fueling concern that regulatory approval was linked to the network's handling of Trump-related legal and programming disputes. Media watchdogs warned that further consolidation narrows the range of independent voices in an already concentrated industry and increases the risk that political pressure shapes newsroom decisions.

The administration framed the approval as routine and pro-competitiveness. Critics said the sequence of events fit a broader second-term pattern in which regulatory approvals for politically sensitive media deals followed concessions favorable to the president.