Paramount and representatives of President Trump are scheduled to meet Wednesday before a mediator who will determine the fate of Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS, The Post has learned.
It all comes as Paramount — whose CBS network has been accused of deceptively editing a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris to tilt the 2024 election in her favor — is in the middle of closing its $8 billion merger with independent studio Skydance.
The transaction also needs approval from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission. Bringing an end to the lawsuit is seen as a way to expedite the approval process, though it remains unclear how the mediator will rule.
A spokesman for Paramount declined to comment but would not deny Wednesday’s mediation; a lawyer for Trump didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount, has let it be known she wants to settle the case and appease other demands by the Trump FCC to push the deal through the regulatory approval process.
That would include meeting demands by Trump FCC chair Brendan Carr to end Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies, which the Trump administration believes leads to illegal racial quotas in hiring.
Carr also wants assurances that CBS will abide by FCC fairness rules for networks that broadcast over so-called public airwaves (as opposed to cable) that they refrain from political bias in news coverage.Now people inside Paramount and Skydance say they can see a path forward with Redstone likely settling with Trump, and the FCC becoming fully engaged in the deal on DEI and other matters.
People at Skydance — which will be running Paramount and CBS if the deal is approved — are said to be ready to agree to Carr’s demands on ending DEI and making sure programming meets fairness metrics. (A Skydance rep declined to comment.)
Conservatives have long complained about political bias in new programming at CBS and “60 Minutes.” The network flouted so-called FCC “public interest” rules that demand unbiased news programming, they say. The FCC launched its probe earlier in the year following a public interest complaint about the Harris interview, and has been throttling the Skydance deal for months as it probes the charges made by a conservative legal group.
“Finally we can see light at the end of the tunnel,” said one person working on the transaction.
That path could be costly in terms of money and prestige. Legal experts have questioned Trump’s case against CBS alleging deceptively edited word-salad answers in Harris’s October 2024 interview with “60 Minutes.” Among other things, they say the lawsuit failed to meet the high bar that the interview caused damages to Trump’s election efforts. Trump, after all, won the 2024 election. CBS. meanwhile, denies that it deceptively edited the piece.
Plus, by caving to Trump — agreeing to pay money to settle the matter, or possibly issuing an apology — Redstone could damage the credibility of one of the most esteemed properties in TV journalism. If the mediator rules in favor of Trump and awards him anywhere near his $20 billion in damages, it would easily eat through the roughly $2.4 billion Redstone will earn as part of the Skydance deal.
Redstone is obviously looking to shell out a lot less, and get the deal approved.
That means she might just offer up an apology for the coverage that Trump believes was biased and pay a smallish settlement.
Insiders are hoping for a settlement along the lines of what ABC agreed to settle a defamation case brought by Trump, when it shelled out a total of $16 million and issued a statement of regret after star anchor George Stephanopoulos inaccurately stated that the president was found liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll.
