Overview
- Liccardo, in a Friday letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr, urged the agency to deny Paramount Skydance’s foreign‑ownership request, citing national security, press freedom, and public‑interest risks.
- Paramount seeks approval for Saudi Arabia’s PIF, an Abu Dhabi fund, and Qatar’s QIA to hold about 38.5% in non‑voting shares, with other foreign investors lifting total foreign equity near 49.5%, above the usual 25% cap for broadcasters.
- The FCC has accepted the petition for filing and will consult Executive Branch agencies; public comments are due May 27 with replies due June 11, and Paramount is answering questions from Team Telecom, the national‑security review group.
- Deal filings say David and Larry Ellison, along with RedBird, would keep voting control through a dual‑class structure, and they agreed to backstop the equity if foreign funding falls through.
- Liccardo warned that approval could spur Congress to set strict limits on foreign government stakes, force divestitures, impose hard caps without waivers, or order retroactive reviews, while the merger also faces antitrust and industry pushback.