U.K. officials approve Paramount takeover of Warner Bros.
· UPIAug. 6 (UPI) -- British officials on Thursday approved Paramount-Skydance's $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying there are no competition nor public grounds to stand in its way.
This comes after Paramount increased its promises of news and other programming in Britain, Variety reported. Lisa Nandy, the U.K.'s culture secretary, who previously said she wanted to look at the deal in more detail, said she would not intervene.
Nandy decided "not to issue a Public Interest Intervention Notice on the basis that the assurances and further legally binding commitments she has secured at this point from Paramount provide a set of protections that will help safeguard the continued availability of a diverse range of broadcasting and on-demand services in the U.K.; the continuation of their distinct editorial identities; and the distinct editorial identities of key U.K. news programs."
The Competition and Markets Authority has also approved the deal, Deadline reported.
Among other things, Paramount assured the U.K. government that its children's channels, including Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, will remain editorially distinct and "continue to commission and acquire original U.K. children's content," Variety said.
Paramount CEO David Ellison is fighting an antitrust lawsuit over the merger in the United States, with a federal judge setting a trial for March. Attorneys general of 12 states and the Writers Guild America brought the lawsuit.
Paramount referred to that conflict in its statement about the approval Thursday.
"These conclusions further demonstrate the misguided and gerrymandered market definitions relied upon by the U.S. state AGs in their antitrust complaint in California," a spokesperson said.
It wasn't entirely smooth sailing in the United Kingdom. Actors including Benedict Cumberbatch had joined a growing campaign against the merger, calling on authorities to block it, Deadline said.
Historic August moments through the years
Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famed "I Have a Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on August 28, 1963. The speech galvanized the nation's civil rights movements and led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. File photo by UPI | License Photo