Paramount Seeks 3-Day August Hearing on WBD Deal as $7 Million-a-Day Fee Looms
Updated
Updated · Deadline · Jul 23
Paramount Seeks 3-Day August Hearing on WBD Deal as $7 Million-a-Day Fee Looms
3 articles · Updated · Deadline · Jul 23
Summary
Paramount asked a federal judge for a three-day evidentiary hearing in late August on whether to block its Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition, offering to extend the current temporary restraining order until the court rules.
The company argued California and 11 other states are seeking an injunction that could delay the merger at least eight months without a full factual record on market definition, competition, expansion barriers and deal incentives.
Sept. 30 is the key deadline: after that, Paramount says it would owe Warner Bros. Discovery a $7 million daily ticking fee, pushing potential added costs above $1 billion if the deal remains stalled.
Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin already froze the transaction for two weeks and set an Aug. 3 hearing on a longer injunction, while the states and Paramount are now fighting over the briefing and hearing schedule.
The scheduling fight is widening as the Writers Guild of America pursues its own injunction bid over the merger's competitive impact and wants its case aligned with the states' Aug. 3 hearing.
Can a writers' union and state AGs halt a $110B merger that federal regulators have already approved?
Will this Hollywood mega-merger create more jobs for writers, or just repeat a history of post-merger layoffs?
With a $7M daily penalty looming, is Paramount's merger fight a gamble it can no longer afford to lose?
Federal Judge Blocks $111 Billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger: Antitrust and Creative Labor at Stake
Overview
On July 20, 2026, a federal judge paused the $111 billion merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery with a 14-day restraining order, following a lawsuit from 12 state attorneys general led by California’s Rob Bonta. Paramount had planned to close the deal quickly but offered to delay it after the court’s intervention. The attorneys general argue the merger would harm competition in entertainment, while the Writers Guild of America also filed an antitrust lawsuit, warning of negative impacts on creative labor. The merger’s fate now depends on a key hearing scheduled for August 3, 2026.