Paramount CEO David Ellison believes that opposition to his planned Warner Bros.merger isn’t truly about market share but rather whether he "can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN." Unfortunately for Ellison, much of the distrust is coming from inside the house. In a striking New York Times guest essay published on Tuesday, Ellison wrote that others have attempted to tell his story while he remained silent because the head of a news organization "shouldn’t put a finger on the scale," but he wouldn’t remain silent any longer. The essay quickly spread through CNN, where concerned staffers attempted to read between the lines to see if it offered a glimmer of hope.
One CNN employee flatly rejected the notion that Ellison’s essay will ease tensions, while CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter called it "remarkable."CNN STAFFERS SEE PARAMOUNT MERGER AS 'INEVITABLE' DESPITE LEGAL BATTLE DELAYING ELLISON TAKEOVERParamount Skydance Chairman & CEO David Ellison would oversee both CBS News and CNN if the Warner Bros.Discovery merger closes.
(Noam Galai/Getty Images for Paramount)Ellison’s Paramount is attempting to build a media empire of historic proportions by acquiring Warner Bros.Discovery for $111 billion. The European Union and the U.S.
Justice Department have each signed off on the deal, with the final roadblocks coming from an antitrust lawsuit led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a suit from the Writers Guild of America.Paramount recently agreed to delay the deal until next year while the lawsuits play out in court. "The states claim this deal will give one company too much influence over theatrical releases and cable operators, while the W.G.A.
argues that our combined market power will hurt writers.Both suits imagine a Hollywood that no longer exists — an industry ruled by a handful of legacy studios," Ellison wrote.Ellison noted that "a combined Paramount-Warner would account for less than 20 percent" of the time Amer...