Paramount reaches settlement with states in $110bn Warner Bros merger

A coalition of states led by California had challenged the deal, raising concerns over competition across film and television.

Paramount Skydance has settled a lawsuit with a dozen US states, paving the way for its $110bn (£82.8bn) merger with Warner Bros Discovery.

Paramount has also promised to create an editorial independence board to oversee CBS News and CNN, the news network owned by Warner Bros Discovery which was recently banned from the White House by President Donald Trump.

Announcing the settlement, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the agreement was "not a vote of support for this merger", while Paramount's chair and chief executive David Ellison welcomed the resolution.

"Our shared aim was an outcome that best serves consumers, workers and - most importantly - the creative community so vital to the art of visual storytelling," he said.

The guild said it was forced to settle its own lawsuit because, as a non-profit, it could not afford to fight the merger alone without government support.

As part of the deal, Paramount has agreed to establish a "news editorial independence board" to "ensure independent, objective, fact-based reporting" at CNN and CBS.

The board will resolve "any disputes between CBS News employees, CNN employees, and management of the combined entity regarding alleged reporting bias or failure to meet agreed reporting fairness standards", the settlement said.

In an op-ed for the New York Times in August,, external he said he had voted for both Republican and Democrat candiates in the past, adding that, if the merger went ahead, "journalists will continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve - not to any party or cause".

Bonta said the settlement will help boost film production in the US. Under the agreement, Paramount must release at least 30 films each year.

Officials wanted to guarantee "real, robust movies" that generate economic activity and put people back to work, he added.

"Divestitures are part of our solutions to all three markets," Bonta said, arguing the deal turned what could have been a "falling off the cliff in domestic production into a huge increase," leading to more movies, jobs, and economic activity.