Knudsen Enters Paramount-Warner Antitrust Fight

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has joined Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop a multistate antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Paramount Skydance’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

The filing puts Knudsen at the center of another major national antitrust fight, this time on the opposite side of a group of Democratic attorneys general who argue the merger would reduce competition in film, television and streaming.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and attorneys general from 11 other states sued in July to block the transaction, arguing the combined company would control two of the country’s major film studios, more than 50 basic-cable channels, three subscription streaming services and several large television-production businesses.

Knudsen and Bird argue that the states’ lawsuit improperly attempts to override a merger already cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice and regulators in other countries. Their Supreme Court filing asks the justices to prevent the states from continuing the federal case and to consider whether disputes between states of this kind belong directly before the Supreme Court.

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division closed its investigation of the merger in June without seeking to block the deal. European regulators later approved the transaction as well.

The dispute has also created divisions within California. Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for a settlement, while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has urged the parties to resolve the case quickly, citing concerns about entertainment-industry jobs and stalled production.

Knudsen’s involvement adds to his increasingly visible role in national competition policy. The Montana attorney general has previously pressed federal regulators on proposed mergers involving major railroads and media companies and has also raised antitrust concerns involving the beer industry.

The Paramount-Warner dispute now presents a different question: whether state attorneys general should be able to continue pursuing a merger challenge after federal antitrust regulators have declined to do so.

A federal trial in the states’ case is scheduled for March 2027. Paramount Skydance has agreed to delay closing the transaction until June 2027 while the litigation proceeds.

By: Montana Newsroom News Wire