Judge Sets Paramount-Warner Bros. Antitrust Trial for March 2027

The judge hearing the antitrust case seeking to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger has issued a preliminary scheduling order, with a trial set to start in March 2027 — considerably later than Paramount was hoping for. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin on Tuesday issued a ruling that said the trial will run a total of 12 court days, beginning Tuesday, March 2, 2027, and ending March 19. In her order, she said a final pretrial conference will be held Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2027. The judge said the parties must submit a joint case management statement by no later than noon on Aug. 13, 2026, for an initial case management conference on Aug. 19. In a July 31 filing, Paramount had asked the judge to schedule its upcoming antitrust trial in November, while the coalition of 12 state attorneys general suing to stop the deal and the Writers Guild of America asked for a date in April 2027. The scheduling matters for Paramount — which will begin paying Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders a “ticking fee” of $7 million per day starting Oct. 1 until the deal is complete. The trial is scheduled to start roughly five months after that, which means Paramount will be on the hook to pay around $1.2 billion to WBD shareholders by the time the trial is scheduled to conclude. A Paramount Skydance spokesperson said in an emailed statement, “The court has set a trial date for early March. We respect the court’s decision and continue to believe a trial on the merits is the best and most direct way for us to prove what we’ve said from the start — this transaction is lawful, pro-competitive, and raises no antitrust concerns. The lawsuit against us has no basis in fact, economics or antitrust law. We will continue to vigorously defend the transaction and remain committed to closing as soon as possible so its benefits for the creative community and consumers can be realized.” California attorney general Rob Bonta is leading the states’ lawsuit. A rep for the California DOJ said: “We appreciate the court’s attention to this case and look forward continuing to argue our case and blocking this unlawful merger.” In announcing Q2 earnings Tuesday, Paramount said, “As it relates to the planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, we fully expect the transaction to close and remain focused on preparing for a successful combination once it is complete.” Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison, on the earnings call, expressed confidence the Warner Bros. deal will ultimately close. “As it relates to the ongoing litigation, you know, we’re absolutely open to finding a solution out of court, but we also really believe that we’ll win at trial,” Ellison said. “We believe that the facts and the law are on our side, and the trial date was just [set] for March of next year. And as it relates to the financing, all that is in place, there’s nothing at risk, and so we’re confident we’ll close the transaction, and we’re working towards that as fast as we possibly can.” In its filing last Friday, Paramount argued that a delay “prejudices the creative industry, the individuals who work within it, and the consumers who benefit from it.” The 12-state coalition, including California and New York, filed suit on July 13, alleging that Paramount’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery will unlawfully reduce competition in the basic cable and theatrical distribution markets. The WGA filed a separate suit the next day, arguing that it will also harm the marketplace for writers. Paramount has argued that the deal will help consumers by providing a more robust competitor to streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime. In an op-ed published Tuesday by the New York Times, Ellison said he believes the lawsuit filed by the state AGs has to do with his potential ownership of CNN and not the combined company’s market power. “I believe this fight is not really about market share,” Ellison wrote in the essay. “I believe a plainer worry sits beneath the briefs and the news releases: the news. The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN.” Ellison reiterated his pledge to keep CNN independent in a merged Paramount-WBD, writing that “when it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views. I believe that news should be based on facts and truth.”