How Trump’s picks could turn Skydance-Paramount deal into cliffhanger

Donald Trump isn’t even in the Oval Office but the people he has selected to run his regulatory apparatus are promising big changes for deal-making, some good — on balance more approved mergers than what was allowed by the Biden peeps — and some not so good, On The Money has learned.

One deal that’s bound to get increased scrutiny is independent studio Skydance’s $28 billion purchase of Paramount, the big but troubled studio and TV empire run by Shari Redstone. 

That’s because the Trump people keep talking about figuring out ways to slow walk or even kill one of the biggest media deals of the year. The reason is the alleged lefty bias writ-large at one of Paramount’s subsidiaries, CBS. The news network was once considered the gold standard of TV journalism, but increasingly has been seen as a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. 

That holds particularly true for Trump supporters and people who will occupy key posts in his administration. They believe that “60 Minutes” edited the word-salad prone Kamala Harris just before the Nov. 5 election to make her sound more cogent. CBS continues to refuse to release a full transcript of the interview, even after a clip of Harris’s bumbling rhetoric appeared in a preview of the segment.

Another example involves the internal pressure imposed on “CBS Mornings” anchor Tony Dokoupil after his tough questioning of far-left writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, who penned a controversial screed that shockingly attacked Israel for its response to the brutal Oct. 7 massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas terrorists.

Now the Trump people are demanding answers and maybe more. A few weeks ago, Brendan Carr, Trump’s nominee to chair the Federal Communications Commission, voiced his concern that CBS has violated parts of the administrative code and its “public interest” clause. Telecom executives tell On The Money that Carr continues to let it be known that the FCC, which must approve such mergers, won’t just rubber stamp the transaction.

Carr might get some support internally to hamper at least the timing of the merger, which is scheduled to close next year, after the nomination of Gail Slater to head of the DOJ’s antitrust division. The longtime telecom lawyer and legislative assistant to VP-elect JD Vance when he was in the Senate is said not to be a friend to big media, and she too might look to throw a monkey wrench into the transaction, sources said.

People at Skydance are apparently taking the threats seriously and could possibly bring in their big gun, and they probably already have, On The Money has heard. That would involve turning to the president-elect’s friend and supporter Larry Ellison, the multi-billionaire Oracle founder and father of Skydance chief David Ellison.

My sources say the elder Ellison wants the deal to sail through the approval process, so Skydance can get down to the business of turning around Paramount, severely hampered by cord cutting and declines in advertising, which forced the controlling Redstone family to sell in the first place. 

A Skydance rep had no comment; Carr and Slater could not be reached for comment.