Business owners have reported an increase in violence in West Hollywood’s Rainbow District, prompting expansion of public safety. (photo courtesy of the city of West Hollywood)

Paramount reached an agreement on Sept. 21 to resolve an antitrust lawsuit delaying the media company’s $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery. The settlement cleared the way for Paramount to acquire Warner Bros., prompting concerns from Hollywood, Los Angeles and local representatives. 

California Attorney General Rob Bonta led a 12-state coalition that sued to block the merger in July, arguing that Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would concentrate too much power in cable TV and blockbuster films under one company. Bonta announced a settlement in a press conference on Monday, Sept. 21.

“I want to be clear about something right up front: This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger,” Bonta said. “It is not a blessing of the broader merger. Broadly speaking, we believe further consolidation of markets that are central to American economic life doesn’t serve the American economy.”

As part of the deal, Paramount agreed to establish a board to ensure the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News, committed to distributing 30 movies in theaters every year and pledged to spend an additional $1.5 billion on film production over the next five years, a share of which must be made in the United States.

The settlement also forces the company to maintain both Warner Bros. production lots in Burbank and Paramount production lots on Melrose Avenue through at least the end of 2031. 

Closing the deal would make David Ellison, Paramount’s chief executive, one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry. Backed by his billionaire father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, the Ellison family’s ties to President Donald Trump have raised concerns for many.

“This conflict was not fought on a level playing field,” L.A. City Councilman Adrin Nazarian, 2nd District, said. “President Trump had already rushed this deal through the normal regulatory process. David Ellison threatened to move Paramount’s production facilities out of state, causing even deeper job losses. Any judgment blocking the merger would have been appealed to courts stacked with appointees sympathetic to President Trump and the Ellisons.”

Nazarian serves as the chair of the L.A. City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Film, Entertainment and Creative Industry, which focuses on streamlining permits, reducing fees and supporting local film and TV productions.

Pairing Paramount’s movie studio with Warner Bros. would give the combined company control of two streaming services, Paramount+ and HBO Max, as well as major news broadcasters CNN and CBS News. Trump recently banned CNN from the White House grounds and restricted its press access.

“The accumulated financial power of a few wealthy families and a few giant conglomerates now exceeds the capacity of state governments to prevent consolidations like this one, even when they are clearly not in the public interest,” Nazarian said. “When the largest state in the union cannot prevent a merger that will damage one of its key industries, it is clear that the unrestrained accumulation of unlimited, unregulated wealth in private hands has become a danger to democracy itself.”

Ellison thanked Bonta for engaging in “good faith” negotiations to a resolution that serves all parties, as well as California Gov. Gavin Newsom for his support.

“Our goal has always been to build a stronger Hollywood – one with more stories told, greater choice for consumers and stronger competition,” Ellison said in a statement. “Bringing Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery together will build that stronger Hollywood, creating expanded opportunity for our people and even more great entertainment for audiences around the world.”

However, not everyone agrees that the soon-to-be merger of the two media tycoons is positive. The Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East, plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, said in a statement that although they settled their suit, they still believe the merger will harm writers and the industry.

“Though we were not successful in blocking the merger, our advocacy brought more attention to the harms that this merger – and others like it – will cause. We will continue to fight the harms of industry consolidation,” the joint statement read. “As the number of outlets to sell our work to and the corresponding diversity of programming shrinks, we need industry-wide structural separation between streamers and studios in order to promote competition in programming, like the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules once required in broadcast television. We will continue to fight for these goals.”

Similarly, the Committee for the First Amendment, an advocacy group of artists and cultural leaders, sees the merger as a “seismic blow” to industry works and freedom of speech. They hosted a rally outside Paramount Studios on Tuesday, Sept. 22, to bring the coalition together to discuss next steps in their fight for “independent media and a fortified First Amendment.”

“Now that I’ve heard the details of the agreement Attorney General Bonta has made with the Ellisons, I am sickened by how he has sold people in the entertainment industry, as well as consumers of our creative work, down the river,” Jane Fonda, founder of the Committee for the First Amendment, said. “The terms of this settlement at this moment in our nation’s history will be extraordinarily damaging.”

Fonda cited several parts of the settlement that she said would damage the industry, including the “independence board,” which Paramount’s corporate board will appoint.

She also cited the settlement’s “force majeure” clause, which states that Paramount can pause or drop its settlement obligations if impacted by economic recession, labor strikes, government actions or natural disasters.

Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur, a Democrat representing the 51st district, which includes Hollywood, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, expressed support for Bonta for settling on the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Although he said he is relieved a settlement has been reached, he said there is still a lot of work to do to ensure California maintains its leadership in the film and television industry.

“As the assemblymember representing Hollywood, one of my highest priorities is to maintain and grow high-wage, family-sustaining jobs in California’s home-grown, world-class film and entertainment industry,” Zbur said. “I will continue to fight for these high-wage, high-skill jobs and the small businesses that are part of this crucial and iconic industry in California.”

Zbur is chairing the Select Committee on Growing and Retaining the Creative Economy in California, which was created in July 2026 to protect and bolster the state’s entertainment and creative sectors.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, a longtime opponent of the merger, has maintained her stance. She said she is concerned the merger could lead to job losses.

“I do not want to see two of Hollywood’s largest studios consolidated under one company, but now we must focus on holding the companies accountable to these commitments to keep productions on L.A. stages, crews on sets and ensure paychecks for hardworking Angelenos,” Bass said. “I will continue bringing labor, industry and government together, using every tool we have to protect L.A. jobs and keep film and television production in Los Angeles.”

Nazarian echoed the Mayor’s concerns about job loss. He commended Bonta and the Writers Guild for forcing significant concessions from Paramount.

“I will not stop fighting to protect the jobs of working Californians and to mitigate the damage that will be done to the film industry by a merger none of us wanted,” he said.