(Reuters) – The Center for American Rights, a non-profit public-interest law firm, has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to challenge the planned $8.4 billion merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media, a filing showed on Tuesday.
China’s Tencent Holdings’ investment in Skydance sparks concerns about foreign influence on U.S. media, the firm said.
The group also said Paramount’s CBS News division “has a troubling track record of ideological bias and news manipulation” and the CBS Television division has shown “racial discrimination in hiring and promotion”.
Paramount declined to comment, while Skydance did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
In July, David Ellison’s Skydance struck a deal with Paramount to combine the two media houses in a complex two-step process, ending months of discussion and speculation about the future of one of Hollywood’s oldest studios.
The merger is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
The deal would combine Paramount, home of such classic films as “Chinatown,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” with Skydance which was its financial partner on several major films, including “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning” and “Star Trek Into Darkness.”
Earlier this year, a Paramount investor sued to block the deal saying it would cost its shareholders $1.65 billion.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
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