Paramount gets green light for $8 billion merger. But what is the psychic cost for company?

By DAVID BAUDER With this week s FCC approval the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media is expected to be completed in the coming weeks at a value of billion The question for the new company is whether the psychic cost is much higher Related Articles Colfax business owners buy K retail condo for district hub Denver Water s effort to free up land for stadium could hit roadblock in condemnation laws Apartment vacancies drop in metro Denver but territory still favors renters King Soopers closing Centennial location next month Several small-business owners sweating impact new tax law will have on their bottom line It has been a particularly rough inadequate months at Paramount-owned CBS where the settlement of a lawsuit regarding Minutes and released end of Stephen Colbert s late-night show has led critics to suggest corporate leaders were bowing to President Donald Trump Following the Federal Communications Commission approval Thursday one of the triumvirate of current Paramount leaders Chris McCarthy commented that he would be leaving the company McCarthy has been in charge of fading cable properties like MTV Comedy Central and Nickelodeon expected to bear the brunt of an estimated billion in cost cuts identified by Skydance leaders Skydance head David Ellison is expected to head the new company and he has identified former NBC Universal executive Jeff Shell as the incoming president CBS News trajectory will be scrutinized After the merger s Aug closing date the new leaders will be watched bulk closely for how they deal with CBS News particularly given the million paid in a settlement of Trump s complaint that last fall s Minutes interview was edited to make opponent Kamala Harris look good Two news executives News CEO Wendy McMahon and Minutes executive producer Bill Owens resigned due to their opposition to the deal The appointment of respected insider Tanya Simon to replace Owens this week was seen as a positive sign by people at Minutes Days before the FCC s vote Paramount agreed to hire an ombudsman at CBS News with the mission of studying complaints of political bias In all respects Skydance will ensure that CBS s reporting is fair unbiased and fact-based Skydance commented in a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr The role of an ombudsman or residents editor who examines a news outlet s work is often positive if they are given independence announced Kelly McBride an ethics expert who has had that role at NPR for five years You really want the person to have loyalty only to their own judgment and the journalistic mission of the organization she reported Having the sole mission of examining bias could be problematic however To be fair a journalist s work should be closely studied before making that determination not judged on the basis of one description or passage she disclosed Carr in an interview with CNBC on Friday declared the role should go a long way toward restoring America s trust in media Anna Gomez an FCC commissioner who voted to reject the deal on Thursday interpreted the arrangement as a way for the administration to control journalists They want the news media to review on them in a positive light or in the light that they want Gomez communicated MSNBC So they don t want the media to do their job which is to hold authorities to account without fear or favor How the merger could ripple out across Paramount properties According to published reports Ellison has explored purchasing The Free Press a flourishing news site founded by Bari Weiss perhaps best known for a former NPR editor s survey of liberal bias in constituents broadcasting An Ellison spokeswoman did not return a message seeking comment on Friday Colbert s slow-motion firing he ll work until the end of his contract next May was described by CBS as a financial decision given late-night television s collapsing economics Colbert s relentless lampooning of Trump and his criticism of the Minutes settlement led to suspicion of those motives Was this really financial comic Jon Stewart wondered Or maybe the path of least resistance for your billion merger was killing a show that you know rankled a fragile and vengeful president Stewart s profane criticism on his own Paramount-owned show may provide its own test for Skydance The Daily Show is one of the minimal original programs left on Comedy Central and his contract ends later this year In an odd way Comedy Central s South Park buttresses CBS claim that the Colbert decision was financial not political Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone delivered an episode this week that depicted a naked Trump in bed with the devil Paramount just signed Parker and Stone to a new billion deal that Skydance executives surely cleared it makes the entire South Park library available for streaming on Paramount a platform where Colbert s show doesn t do nearly as well Figuring out what to do with others at Paramount s cable networks or even the networks as a whole will be an early decision for Ellison son of multibillionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison There is a clear opportunity to improve Paramount s increase profile by letting those assets go analyst Doug Creutz of TD Securities narrated investors Friday On the other hand we suspect the Ellisons did not purchase Paramount in order to break it up for parts The merger also brings together the Paramount movie studio with one of its most of regular partners David Ellison has been one of the industry s top investors and producers since founding Skydance in Ellison has a challenge here too Years of uncertainty over its future and modest assets in its movie pipeline has shrunk Paramount s sector share to last among the major studios The Paramount streaming operation has been a money-loser To revive Paramount Ellison will look to revamp its streaming operations leverage its franchises and try to bolster family content AP Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this statement David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP Follow him at http x com dbauder and https bsky app profile dbauder bsky social