Upon the deal’s closing, Skydance and its financial partners are set inject $1.5 billion in cash into Paramount. However, that’s intended to go toward reducing Paramount’s long-term debt ($14.16 billion as of Q1 of 2025) to help stabilize its balance sheet.

The merger has faced scrutiny for what critics view as capitulations to Donald Trump, including a $16m settlement.

The FCC's approval, which was necessary for the deal to move forward, caps a long-running corporate saga over the fate of Paramount, which owns Paramount+, the Paramount Pictures movie and television studios, the CBS television network and CBS News and Stations. Paramount also owns Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and other media brands.

South Park,” Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have all been critical of their own company and President Trump this week.

South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone hit the Comic-Con stage on Thursday night, a day after the Season 27 premiere of their smash Comedy Central series, “Sermon on the ‘Mount,” made waves for taking on both Donald Trump and “South Park’s” Paramount corporate parents.

Plus, Hulk Hogan, the pro wrestler who brought the sport to new heights of mainstream popularity, died at the age of 71.

Paramount’s cable business has cratered. The news division is in turmoil. A.I. is coming for movies. And those are just the obvious challenges facing David Ellison as he takes control.

With the FCC having cleared the Skydance Media-Paramount merger and the deal set to close in a matter of weeks, Paramount Global co-CEO Chris McCarthy will leave the media conglomerate, a company source confirmed to Variety.

The revival’s third season (and the show’s eleventh overall) will launch on Sept. 3 at the basic cabler. The first two seasons of the revival debuted on Paramount+, but it was announced in June 2024 that the series would be airing on Comedy Central going forward.