Paramount is set to settle the antitrust lawsuit brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other states over the company’s proposed purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, which should make the official combination of the two Hollywood studios a mere formality.
The news, which was first reported by Bloomberg’s Erik Larson and Christopher Palmeri before being confirmed by several other outlets, will pave the way for Paramount’s CBS Sports and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports divisions to merge into one entity. The combined sports divisions will boast a substantial amount of live sports rights including the NFL, NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, College Football Playoff, MLB, NHL, UFC, NASCAR, golf, tennis, and more.
Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal published a handy list of every property the combined entity will hold (embedded below), though it’s important to note that many of these deals, like with MLB and the NHL, expire in the coming years.
https://t.co/sunqHZXt4V pic.twitter.com/BR2nZUthJ8
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) September 21, 2026
The settlement will reportedly include provisions that require a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery to produce at least 30 theatrical releases each year or face fines. Crucially, however, the settlement will not force Paramount to divest in any of its cable networks, a possibility that had previously been reported. Assuming that detail, as reported by Jessica Toonkel in The Wall Street Journal, is accurate, it would seem like a near certainty that CBS Sports and TNT Sports will be rolled into one entity.
Of course, the merged sports division will likely face some difficult realities in the near-term. For one, consolidation often comes with downsizing. Redundant positions will be eliminated, and it’s fair to expect Paramount to be particularly aggressive in these moves considering the staggering amount of debt it is taking on to complete this acquisition.
Then there’s the possibility that the sports division will be forced to relinquish some of its live rights when they expire. TNT Sports pays a combined $760 million annually for its MLB and NHL rights, both of which come up in 2028 and could be easy targets in a cost-cutting effort. Those sports offer limited risk of moving the needle substantially on distribution fees, especially given the added scale Paramount’s sports portfolio brings to those negotiations.
Viewers can also expect the combined entity to begin cross-pollinating certain properties. Paramount has already floated the possibility of placing UFC fights on TNT. Currently, the package airs exclusively on Paramount+, with limited simulcasts on CBS.
Earlier this year, reports indicated that CBS Sports and TNT Sports would merge in the third quarter of this year “if all goes according to plan,” with CBS Sports president David Berson the odds-on favorite to lead the division. That timeline would suggest that any combination of the two divisions will likely happen quickly, even if it’s not quite done by the end of the third quarter.
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.