Meg James

Paramount Global has agreed to pay $16 million to end President Trump’s lawsuit over edits to a “60 Minutes” interview — a legal tussle that roiled CBS News, spurred high-level departures and threatened to derail the company’s hoped-for sale. The money will be allocated to Trump’s future presidential library. As part of the deal, Paramount did not offer an apology or express regret for CBS News’ reporting or edits. “No amount will be paid directly or indirectly to President Trump,” Paramount said.

A look at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr's dramatic transformation from a low-key communications policy wonk into one of Trump’s staunchest cultural warriors. Since becoming FCC chairman in late January, Carr has repeatedly poked the corporate owners of ABC, CBS and NBC — networks the president dislikes. In 2024, Donald Trump sued CBS over edits to a pre-election “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has demanded $20 billion, alleging the interview was doctored to make Harris look better. CBS should lose its licenses, Trump has said.

CBS has asked the Federal Communications Commission to end its investigation into edits of its “60 Minutes” Kamala Harris interview, arguing that the federal government risks becoming “a roving censor” trampling on free speech rights.President Trump was furious over October 2024's “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Harris in the closing weeks of the campaign. The president and other conservatives chided CBS after it was revealed that “60 Minutes” producers had edited Harris’ jumbled response to a question about the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Long known as the squabbling siblings of media, CBS Corp and Viacom Inc are poised to finally reunite after 13 years apart. The much-anticipated corporate union, which will be called ViacomCBS Inc. and be valued at about $25 billion, is set to conclude Dec 4 after the markets close. The Viacom name gets top billing even though CBS is more valuable.

After years of on-again, off-again merger talks, broadcast giant CBS and its corporate sibling Viacom finally agreed to reunite in a $12-billion deal that will bring together such well-known brands as CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime. CBS, which is the larger of the two companies and worth $18.5 billion, will absorb the smaller Viacom, which owns such assets as MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central and the Paramount Pictures movie studio in Hollywood.

Comcast triumphed over the Walt Disney in a hard-fought battle for Sky television, by offering $39 billion for the satellite-TV service that has 23 million customers in five European countries. Sky’s independent board members must approve the winning bid  and shareholders must ratify the deal before the sale will be complete. Soon, Comcast will have a presence in some of the most prosperous countries in Europe — Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy.

Walt Disney Co. and 21st Century Fox shareholders overwhelmingly approved Disney’s proposed $71.3-billion takeover of much of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox — a milestone in a merger that is expected to dramatically reshape the entertainment industry. The deal’s contours began to form nearly a year ago over wine between Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and Murdoch at the elder mogul’s Moraga vineyard above Bel-Air.

Rupert Murdoch is one of the most driven moguls in media, defying the odds for more than a half-century to build a global media empire from a small newspaper in Australia. So many people were startled to learn the 86-year-old tycoon and his sons appear willing to sell some of their prized 21st Century Fox media assets.  Walt Disney Co approached the Murdoch family in recent months to inquire about buying key Fox properties, including the Los Angeles-based movie and television studios, cable TV channels FX and National Geographic, and Fox’s international TV operations.

An estimated 17,000 AT&T technicians in California and Nevada went on strike March 22, highlighting workplace tensions within the massive Dallas-based telecommunications giant. The strike follows a protracted dispute between AT&T and union members affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, District 9, who have been working without a contract for nearly a year.

Workers say they have been increasingly asked to perform the duties of higher-paid employees without the same level of compensation. Union members also have been upset by AT&T’s closure of US based call centers, including a facility near Anaheim, to hire workers in overseas locations. They contend that AT&T has moved thousands of call center jobs in recent years to the Philippines, Mexico and other countries. March 9’s walkout, which began at 6 a.m., was to protest what the union said was AT&T’s demand that technicians who typically install and maintain the company’s U-Verse TV service also work on the cables, hardware and other infrastructure used to provide landline phone service (AT&T’s wireless division is not affected by the action).

Media companies are preparing for some whirlwind courtships in what’s expected to be the biggest merger bonanza in years.

Verizon, the nation’s largest phone company with more than 114 million wireless subscribers, could pair up with Charter Communications, which has more than 17 million customers in such key markets as Los Angeles, New York and Dallas. This romance and others appear to be blooming one week after President Donald Trump took office and designated a new Federal Communications Commission chairman who favors a more hands-off approach to government regulation than his predecessor.

Traditional media companies desperate for growth don’t want to get left behind as rivals bulk up in an effort to survive a more difficult environment. “What is driving this [merger activity] is challenges in these businesses,” said Matthew Harrigan, a senior analyst with Wunderlich Securities. “There are not a lot of elephants on the savanna, and when one moves, you have to move too.” Trump administration appointees are expected to be friendlier to corporate mergers, returning to a traditional Republican openness to approving major deals after eight years of heightened scrutiny — and some major rejections — under Democratic appointees of former President Barack Obama.