FCC Chairman Brendan Carr Suggests That Skydance-Paramount Merger Review Is Far From Finished

deadline.com:

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said that the agency’s review of the proposed Skydance-Paramount Global merger is far from finished, as the two companies have said that they expect to complete the deal by the summer. “At this point we haven’t made a lot of progress on any transaction at the agency,” Carr told reporters today. “We are a couple weeks in.

We are still doing our deep dive briefings with the teams that are working on these.” The transaction is on day 104 of the FCC’s 180-day “shot clock,” an informal timeline for the agency to review mergers.

The FCC’s review is taking place against the backdrop of President Donald Trump‘s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS over the way that 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris.

CBS and Trump’s team are engaged in settlement talks. Even though a number of legal observers see the lawsuit as frivolous, CBS would be the latest company to try to assuage Trump, even if such a scenario has created plenty of consternation in the news division.