The FCC approves the controversial merger of CBS's parent company.

BarcelonaAmerican regulatory authorities have given the green light to a mega-merger that, despite its staggering $8 billion value, is making headlines primarily for its political implications. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Skydance's acquisition of Paramount, in what has been one of the most scrutinized mergers of the decade. The agency's chairman, Brendan Carr, explained in a statement that he allowed the business move after the new company committed to practicing unbiased journalism and renouncing programs dedicated to diversity, equity, or inclusion. "Americans no longer trust traditional national media. It's time to change that. That's why I welcome Skydance's commitment, which will make significant changes to CBS, which had been a benchmark."

This free-to-air television network, one of the three main ones in the United States along with NBC and ABC, sought FCC approval for the transaction and, to obtain it, has made apparent concessions to President Trump, who had it in his favor and who appointed Carr as the top official at the federal agency. First, it agreed to pay $16 million in compensation to avoid going to trial for an interview with Kamala Harris that, according to the Republican, was staged to hide his doubts about the policy he would apply in the case of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Although CBS initially claimed that they saw no chance of success in the lawsuit filed, for an exorbitant value of $20 billion, it is considered that the need for this FCC endorsement was the decisive factor in forcing the agreement, which implicitly involved an admission of guilt (although Trump did not obtain it).

The second context element is the cancellation of the late show Hosted by Stephen Colbert. Although the network explains that this is solely due to financial reasons, considering the show records losses of $40 million per season, the fact that it was the ratings leader in a format that is a television institution in the US, with a large following on social media, and that its host was one of Trump's most incisive critics, has led to further progress within the party in securing the endorsement that the FCC finally granted a few days later. The statement from its chairman shows that, beyond competition issues, editorial policies have also been analyzed and there has been an attempt to influence the discourse of this private media outlet.