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.
#bonta #general #session #according
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.
#bonta #general #session #according
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