Consumers file Hail Mary at SCOTUS to block Paramount-Warner merger

Five consumers filed an emergency application at the Supreme Court Monday seeking to block Paramount Skydance's $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing that once ownership of competing studios, streaming services and newsrooms is combined, the lost competition cannot be restored later. Justice Elena Kagan denied the request within hours.

The merger, set to close Tuesday, puts CBS News, CNN, HBO Max, Paramount+, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures under one company, now called Skydance, run by Trump ally David Ellison. Ellison has already installed Bari Weiss atop CBS News, prompting disputes over editorial independence.

A coalition of 12 states had sued over the deal but settled last month, with Paramount agreeing to increase domestic production spending and create a news editorial independence board. Two lower courts had already declined to pause the merger before the consumers turned to the Supreme Court as a last resort.

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