US judge approves settlement allowing Paramount to acquire Warner Bros

Mammoth deal has raised questions about corporate consolidation and editorial independence in media.A United States judge has entered an order giving the green light for the media giant Paramount to complete its $110bn acquisition of entertainment company Warner Bros., despite fears about the long-term impacts of media consolidation.On Wednesday, US District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin approved a settlement between Paramount, Warner Bros, and a group of 12 states that had sued to block the merger.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Paramount settles with US states, union to win Warner Bros takeoverlist 2 of 3Twelve US states sue Paramount to block Warner Bros mergerlist 3 of 3US broadcaster CBS fires 60 Minutes’s Scott Pelley after clash with bossesend of listIn her ruling, Martinez-Olguin described the proposed deal as a “fair, reasonable, and good faith approach to address the competitive harms”.Analysts have long raised concerns about the acquisition, one of the largest media mergers in history.The coalition of states that sued to block the deal, led by California, had argued that combining Paramount with Warner Bros would effectively stifle media competition. They estimated that nearly one-third of all theatrical releases and basic cable programming would be consolidated under the merger.But the states abandoned their lawsuit in favour of a settlement on September 21.The five-year agreement requires Paramount to abide by theatrical film release quotas, committing to 30 releases per year in the US.It also mandates that the combined company must keep negotiations with cable providers for Warner-owned channels separate from its deals for Paramount-owned channels.The settlement approved on Wednesday also includes the creation of a five-member panel meant to safeguard the editorial independence of CNN and CBS, two major news networks.