Paramount Skydance agreed Tuesday to combine a federal antitrust lawsuit brought by 12 state attorneys general with an earlier case filed by Paramount+ subscribers, a procedural move that will likely funnel the states’ challenge to its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery before a single judge.
In a court filing, Paramount and codefendant Skydance Media told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that they agreed with the state of California’s motion asking the court to treat the two cases as related. Warner Bros. Discovery, also named in the states’ suit, joined the response. The filing means the case will most likely land in the courtroom of Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin, an Oakland-based jurist already overseeing the subscriber lawsuit. Before joining the bench in 2023, Martinez-Olguin worked for the National Immigration Law Center and the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.
The subscriber suit, filed in April by three current and two prospective Paramount+ users, argues the merger would drive up prices and shrink viewing options. The states’ case, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and filed Monday, makes a similar argument on a larger scale, claiming the deal would combine two of Hollywood’s top five studios and choke off competition in theatrical distribution and cable licensing.
Bonta has called the merger a threat to consumers, warning it would drive up prices and cut down on the volume and quality of movies and shows reaching audiences. Paramount has pushed back forcefully, dismissing an earlier version of the states’ argument in a court filing as an attempt to inject politics into antitrust law, and maintaining publicly that the combination would strengthen competition rather than weaken it.
The states requested a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to keep the deal from closing while litigation proceeds. Martinez-Olguin is set to hold a hearing Thursday on that injunction request and on Paramount’s motion to dismiss the subscriber case. Paramount still needs sign-off from the Federal Communications Commission, along with antitrust regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union, before the merger can close.
