Paramount, Skydance must scrap DEI to pass FCCs public interest litmus test: sources
The Federal Communications Commission has been reviewing M&A deals in the media space for decades and a key concern for the agency is whether such combinations are in the “public interest.”Skydance’s $8 billion purchase of Paramount and its CBS News subsidiary might just pass the FCC’s public interest litmus test — a loosely defined concept that involves promoting fairness in broadcasting and how companies are managed — if and only if the guys in charge of the new company ditch any allegiance to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies, On the Money has learned.In fact, as long as Trump appointee Brendan Carr remains at the helm of the FCC, getting rid of so-called DEI will be a prerequisite for any media deal that needs FCC approval, people with knowledge of Carr’s thinking add.The good news for the Skydance-Paramount combo is that the new management will be led by David Ellison.The Skydance boss – and son of Trump pal Larry Ellison of Oracle fame – and his partners at Redbird Capital are no fans of DEI, I am told.
They are likely to dump the racial- and gender-based hiring policies without much of a fuss, my sources say.The bad news for the rest of the media industry: The super woke companies will have to decide to give up on their lefty political biases if they want to survive with Team Trump in charge.A Skydance spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter as did press reps for Comcast and Disney. An FCC rep didn’t return a call for comment.Carr, for the unacquainted, is a longtime telecom attorney (he was an FCC commissioner before Trump appointed him chair) and conservative activist.He also believes he’s on firm ground demanding that all companies seeking his “public interest” merger approval start by nixing DEI.
The acronym is better known as racial- and gender-based quotas and it is pervasive in hiring and promoting for on-air talent, and in the broader workforce, for most media companies.While Skydance might be willing ...