California Attorney General Rob Bonta canceled a settlement meeting with Paramount scheduled for Monday, accusing the company of leaking and misrepresenting details of an earlier negotiating session, according to CNN.
Monday's meeting, which both sides had positioned as an early step toward a possible settlement in California's suit to block the Paramount-WBD deal, was called off by Bonta on Sunday evening following the Friday session, according to Variety.
"Not only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith," Bonta said in a statement to the New York Times. "As soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again."
Bonta is leading a coalition of 12 state attorneys general that filed suit last month to block the deal, arguing that a combined Paramount-WBD entity would hold roughly a third of wide-release film distribution and a comparable share of basic cable TV programming, constituting presumptively illegal market concentration. The coalition includes Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington.
Bonta had previously signaled that any resolution would require "robust structural remedies" — meaning divestitures or spin-offs — and accused Paramount of steering early discussions toward topics outside the complaint's scope, including the streaming market and CNN. Paramount has maintained that the deal is pro-competitive and has characterized opposition to it as politically motivated.

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California is asking a federal judge to throw out Tory Lanez's $100 million federal lawsuit over his prison stabbing.
According to newly filed court documents reviewed by Complex, Attorney General Rob Bonta's office submitted a motion on Wednesday (July 29) seeking to dismiss every claim against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, arguing the agency cannot legally be sued under the federal law Lanez is relying on. Specifically, the AG is claiming that the Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution gives the state immunity from being sued in federal court.
The amendment says, "The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State." The AG's office makes the argument that this prohibition applies as well to any action against a state by one of its own citizens.
The motion asks the court to dismiss Lanez's claims without giving his attorneys an opportunity to amend the complaint.
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NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ordered Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery to halt their $81 billion merger for at least two weeks, allowing states that are challenging the deal more time to see their case through in court.
Twelve states, led by California, sued to block Paramount's pending buyout of Warner last week — alleging that such a combination would "extinguish competition" in Hollywood and lead to fewer choices for consumers, particularly moviegoers and cable customers across the U.S.
The states' top prosecutors called on Warner and Paramount to not close the transaction until after a court had time to fully evaluate their claims. And when the companies refused, they filed for a temporary restraining order — which is what District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted on Monday. That opens the door to a potential preliminary injunction that the states are also seeking to effectively block the deal.
"This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Monday. "History tells the tale of what happens when a few people have great power over markets that are central to Americans' lives: fewer opportunities for more people, worse products and services for all people."
A Warner-Paramount tie-up would bring together two of the five last legacy studios in Hollywood — as well as a host of TV networks, ****** les filling streaming libraries and news operations. Warner's HBO Max, fan favorites like "Harry Potter" and even CNN would come under the same roof of Paramount-owned CBS, movies like "Top Gun" and the Paramount+ streaming service.

The seeming refusal by San Francisco star Rafael Devers to exit the game for a pinch runner on Sunday night has become yet another flash point in a miserable Giants season, drawing sharp rebukes from several former players on the local and national level.
But on Tuesday night, TBS studio ***** yst and Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez offered a different perspective, largely defending Devers, a fellow Dominican star, for what he described as a “miscommunication,” while also acknowledging that Devers can sometimes be in “la-la land” while playing.
“Rafi loves being in the game. As you saw his entire career, he loves being in the game. But at the same time, I think there’s a miscommunication,” Martinez said. “First of all, Devers does not speak well in English. The translators sometimes can probably get the wrong impression from the way he says it. I think Devers did not find the proper words to kind of explain the kind of mess that went on. And that’s where everything was probably confused.”
In a harsh postgame reaction, NBC Sports Bay Area studio ***** yst Rich Aurilia said Devers waving off the pinch runner late in a close game came across even worse considering he does not often speak to media, while host Bonta Hill suggested Devers was upstaging rookie head coach Tony Vitello.
Later, former MLB outfielder Eric Byrnes said on a podcast that Devers’ move was “dogsh*t” and “embarrassing.”