Judge Rejects Subscribers' Bid to Halt $111 Billion Paramount-WBD Merger as 12 States Press Challenge
Updated
Updated · Variety · Jul 17
Judge Rejects Subscribers' Bid to Halt $111 Billion Paramount-WBD Merger as 12 States Press Challenge
3 articles · Updated · Variety · Jul 17
Summary
Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin denied Paramount+ subscribers a preliminary injunction Thursday, saying they offered no evidence and raising serious doubts about their standing to bring antitrust claims.
The April suit argued the merger would bring price hikes and fewer viewing options, but Paramount said the plaintiffs' lawyer has filed five similar merger challenges recently and lost each one.
A tougher test comes Friday, when Martinez-Olguin hears a request from 12 state attorneys general for a temporary restraining order against the $111 billion deal.
The states sued Monday, alleging the merger would harm competition in theatrical and basic cable markets; Paramount has asked the court to reject that request as unlikely to succeed.
The legal pressure is widening: the Writers Guild filed a federal antitrust suit Tuesday, and two nonprofit groups brought a shareholder derivative case in Delaware seeking to block the merger.