(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Communications Commission announced on Thursday the approval of a massive, $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global by Skydance Media.
The deal includes the CBS broadcast network, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, said in a statement after the announcement that he welcomed “Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”
“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Carr said, adding, “It is time for a change.”
Carr added that the merger was a “step forward” in eliminating what he called “invidious forms” of diversity, equity and inclusion measures.
The FCC said in a press release about the acquisition that Skydance had made written commitments to ensure future programming from the company would have a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum. Skydance also said it would hire an independent adviser to evaluate complaints of bias.
The FCC voted 2-1 to approve the acquisition, with Commissioner Anna Gomez casting the opposing vote.
Gomez released a dissent on the merger, saying it would “further erode press freedom.”
“After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions,” she added.
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