Aug 23 (Reuters) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta is expected to ask Paramount to divest some cable channels and commit to keeping its movie studio separate from Warner Bros. before he signs off on their merger, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Paramount and California state officials are set to meet on Monday to discuss potential ways to settle the state’s antitrust lawsuit, the report said.
Lawyers from both sides met on Friday to lay out an agenda for Monday’s meeting, including discussions about the cable and motion-picture businesses, the Journal reported.
Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, and the California Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours.
Last month, California and 11 states sued to block Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros., alleging the deal would lessen competition in film distribution and cable television, harming theaters and pay TV distributors.
Some states argued the deal would harm theaters and television distributors, raise prices for consumers and make wages less competitive for workers.
Paramount has said the deal will allow it to produce more, not less, and CEO David Ellison has vowed the combined film studios would release 30 movies a year.
The states have called that commitment unenforceable.
(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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