A federal judge on Thursday declined to immediately approve the proposed antitrust settlement that would clear Paramount Skydance’s roughly $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, instead directing the parties to answer concerns raised by Sen. Cory Booker.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, overseeing the case brought by 12 state attorneys general, held a virtual hearing to address “outstanding questions” about the consent decree. She ordered Paramount and the states to respond by noon Monday, Sept. 29, to Booker’s letter urging an independent public-interest review before the court enters the settlement.
The judge also asked for a clean written copy of the decree with any proposed amendments marked, plus identification of the state committee that would monitor compliance. She allowed opponents, including the Block the Merger coalition and the League of United Latin American Citizens, to file amicus briefs by 12:01 a.m. PT Friday.
The settlement, announced Monday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta on behalf of the state coalition, would lift a no-close order in exchange for behavioral remedies rather than forced asset sales.
Booker, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, called the merger illegal and structurally harmful. He argued it would shrink major Hollywood studios from five to four and combine two of the largest basic-cable owners, concentrating nearly a third of the theatrical film market and basic-cable programming. Behavioral promises, he said, cannot fix a structural problem.
The judge’s pause does not kill the settlement, but it inserts a short window for further briefing before the court decides whether the public-interest standard has been met.