How CBS's left-wing bias could impact Skydance Media's $8B deal to merge with Paramount

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

Skydance Media may finally win regulatory approval for its $8 billion deal
to merge with Paramount Global — but the process could look like something
out of “Mission: Impossible.”

That’s the word from sources close to the megadeal, who tell me that under
terms of a merger approval being discussed by the incoming Trump
administration’s Federal Communications Commission, Paramount’s CBS
network could be forced to make a slew of surprising and dramatic changes.

Viewers may find some of them hard to miss.

The operating principle here — and it’s a big one to unpack, as discussed
below — is that CBS could be required to fully abide by standards set for
US broadcast licensees to be “neutral” news organizations.

According to people close to Trump’s transition team, CBS could, among
other things, be forced to turn over a full transcript of the
controversial “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, which those in
the Trump orbit believe shows the network played dirty during the 2024
election.

But people close to the situation tell me the stakes could be far broader
than that. In short, Skydance — a Hollywood movie studio best known for
producing the recent installments of “Mission: Impossible” — will be asked
to demonstrate to Team Trump that CBS will become a fair arbiter of news.

If that sounds like a far-fetched task that’s better suited for Tom
Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt, you wouldn’t be wrong.

It would mean, for example, that CBS would no longer tilt its news
coverage in favor of Democrats, including how its anchors comport
themselves during presidential debates.

The Trump people point to CBS VP-debate moderators Margaret Brennan and
Norah O’Donnell, who were equally criticized for showing bias in cutting
off and fact-checking Trump running mate J.D. Vance in his Oct. 1 faceoff
with Tim Walz.

Colbert softballs
Meanwhile, CBS’s lefty “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert isn’t just biased
in his commentary, he literally hosted a Dem fund­raiser at Radio City
Music Hall where he threw softball questions at Joe Biden, Bill Clinton
and Barack ­Obama.

After Trump’s Nov. 5 victory, enter incoming FCC Chairman Brendan Carr,
who is well aware of all of the above and wants to end such left-wing
propaganda in exchange for Skydance receiving FCC approval. Unlike cable,
fairness standards apply to traditional, local TV.

“Make no mistake, Brendan wants CBS to be the neutral news organization
that its FCC license demands,’’ says one person familiar with Carr’s
thinking.

“And that extends to Colbert. They will call it comedy, but you can’t use
the public airwaves to be an extension of the DNC.”

It may not hurt that Skydance is run by David Ellison, who’s getting
financial backing from his dad, Larry, the co-founder of Oracle whose net
worth is pegged by Forbes at $231 billion — and who also happens to be a
major Trump supporter.

Still, all of this is a long way from the tenor of the talks before Nov.
5.

The deal was thought to be locked up.

As I have reported, the Biden-Harris administration signaled it saw no
problems on antitrust grounds.

Then things got a little crazy. CBS, once considered the gold standard of
unbiased journalism, has increasingly tilted to the left and Republicans
believe that tilt reached epic proportions during the 2024 election.

First came the internal pressure imposed on “CBS Mornings” anchor Tony
Dokoupil after his tough questioning of far-left writer Ta-Nehisi Coates,
who penned a screed that attacked Israel for its response to the brutal
Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.

Then came the “60 Minutes” episode. The Trump camp believes the program
selectively edited an Oct. 7 interview with Kamala Harris — whose
signature dish is “word salad” — to make her sound smarter.

Carr is a longtime telecom activist and commissioner who made a name for
himself raising questions about the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok
and whether the CCP is using the service for spycraft.

People who know Carr say he plans to use the FCC approval process — which
could take months and add additional costs to the Paramount purchase that
the new owners would like to avoid — to squeeze promises of neutrality out
of them.

Larry made the call
Top Skydance executives are saying they have the whole thing locked up
given the Trump-Ellison bromance; Larry has already made a call to Trump
to push the deal through.

But people close to Carr say Larry Ellison and the Skydance team might not
fully appreciate how much Trump knows about the “Art Of The Deal” — and
how much he hates CBS and its anti-Trump bias.

Trump may be poised to have it both ways: help his friend Larry with Carr
approving the transaction — but only after CBS ’fesses up to its lefty
bias and vows to turn back toward covering news instead of being an
advocacy arm of the Democratic Party.

Carr declined to comment; a Skydance spokeswoman had no comment.
--
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

[[e-mail]]

Post by Leroy N. Soetoro
Skydance Media may finally win regulatory approval for its $8 billion deal
to merge with Paramount Global — but the process could look like something
out of “Mission: Impossible.”
That’s the word from sources close to the megadeal, who tell me that under
terms of a merger approval being discussed by the incoming Trump
administration’s Federal Communications Commission, Paramount’s CBS
network could be forced to make a slew of surprising and dramatic changes.
Viewers may find some of them hard to miss.
The operating principle here — and it’s a big one to unpack, as discussed
below — is that CBS could be required to fully abide by standards set for
US broadcast licensees to be “neutral” news organizations.

Ain't gonna happen.

The serious question is whether it SHOULD happen.

Lefty News is NOT "News" per-se - just propaganda -
but everyone ELSE's "news" is kinda the same when
you stand back and look at it.

In short there IS NO "objective" in the big picture,
just competing delusions/mis-impressions.

"Six impossible things before breakfast ..."

Uh oh ... showing my age ... the certainties of
youth now tempered by experiences ..........
everyone HATES that ......... :-)

"Gird your loins and take up your sword against
The Heretics ...", that's the most popular POV.

Oops ... did it again .....