Judge in Paramount-State AGs Case Still Has Questions, Schedules Hearing on Settlement Terms

Paramount’s deal with the 12 state attorneys general to settle their antitrust lawsuit over the Warner Bros. Discovery merger is not official just yet: The judge in the case has some “outstanding questions” about the settlement, which requires her approval before it takes effect.

In an order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin granted the parties’ motion to vacate the hearing about Paramount’s previous motion to require the states (and the WGA) to post $1.88 billion bond, which had been scheduled for Sept. 24. (The proposed settlements Paramount entered into with the states and the WGA makes that moot.)

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However, Martinez-Olguin said in the order that the court “does not yet rule on the remainder of the motion to enter consent decree and dissolve the stipulation not to close” the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.

“To address certain outstanding questions regarding the factual and legal underpinnings of the parties’ proposed consent decree, as well as the implementation of the proposed consent decree, the Court SETS a hearing for 11:00 a.m. PST on September 24, 2026,” the judge wrote. The hearing will take place via Zoom.

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Paramount declined to comment. The office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the states’ coalition suing Paramount and WBD over the merger, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.