It appears that Paramount’s $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery is set to clear another major hurdle in the coming days.
Just a matter of weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice moved to approve the merger, despite an unusually hasty process and the concerns of career staffers, the European Commission, the body that enforces antitrust matters in the European Union, is reportedly set to clear the merger, according to a report by Barbara Moens in Financial Times.
Per Moens, approval will be conditioned on Paramount agreeing to certain remedies to assuage specific antitrust concerns. Such stipulations could include Paramount exiting a joint venture with Universal Pictures, which handles the studio’s distribution in international markets. A separate report earlier this month suggested Paramount may have to divest in its children’s TV assets as part of an approval process.
The European Commission has a July 7 deadline to approve the deal, or open an investigation into the transaction.
With approval seemingly imminent, the two biggest hurdles with potential to block the deal will have been cleared. What’s left is a group of state attorneys general looking to mount a resistance to the transaction, though the outlook for such an effort is unclear.
Internally, Paramount is hoping to formally combine operations in July, though publicly the company has targeted anytime in Q3 2026. For sports fans, that means a merger between CBS Sports and TNT Sports could come as soon as the upcoming football season. CBS, of course, is a primary NFL partner, while both CBS Sports and TNT Sports own various college football rights.
While it’s unlikely there would be any major changes right from the jump, a combined CBS Sports and TNT Sports could presumably begin to share programming among one another. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has already floated the possibility of shifting some NHL games over to CBS, while Paramount has floated placing some UFC fights on TNT.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.