Paramount Skydance representatives are expected to meet on Monday with the California Attorney General’s office to discuss a potential settlement of the states’ antitrust case, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
Paramount has been pushing hard for a deal to allow its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery to close. The deal is currently on hold pending a March trial in federal court in Oakland.
Attorney General Rob Bonta has said he is open to settlement negotiations, but has also said that Paramount has thus far been unwilling to offer the kind of structural remedies that would be needed to satisfy the states’ concerns.
A Paramount spokesperson declined to comment.
Bonta led a 12-state coalition to challenge the merger in July, arguing that it would illegally contract the marketplace for theatrical distribution and basic cable. The merger would consolidate two of Hollywood’s five legacy studios and two of the top three cable programmers.
Under federal rules, the two sides will have to at least try to settle the case in front of a magistrate judge at some point. At a hearing this week, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin asked the parties to identify two potential magistrates who could oversee mediation by next Wednesday.
A parade of interested parties has recently come out in favor of a settlement, including the Directors Guild of America, IATSE, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Cinema United, the trade group representing theater chains.
“Earlier this week, you heard the attorney general himself say he’d prefer this settle in the boardroom, not the courtroom,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday. “I think there’s some universal sentiment there, if that’s possible. The question is is that possible. And what’s the best deal? That has to be worked through. That’s a process that’s unfolding, I assure you, in real time.”
Paramount has pledged various commitments to try to get a deal done, including a promise to make 30 films a year for the next three years, and to keep them exclusively in theaters for at least 45 days. Bonta’s office, however, has argued that such behavioral remedies have proven impossible to enforce in the past.
The Writers Guild of America has filed its own lawsuit, which is set to be tried along with the states’ case next March. The WGA is also a party to the stipulation that puts the merger on hold until the trial, and would have be involved the parties are aiming to reach a global resolution. A WGA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.