David Ellison’s Paramount is publicly denying that it leaked details of upcoming talks with Rob Bonta‘s office on its Warner Bros. Discovery deal after the California attorney general canceled a scheduled Monday meeting, accusing the company of “playing games.”
“We share AG Bonta’s concerns about the public discussions and misreporting that has surrounded this deal,” read a statement from a PSKY spokesperson. “As we have assured the Attorney General’s office, Paramount has not been the source of the leaks of any of our confidential discussions with the AG’s office. We remain hopeful and stand ready to continue good faith discussions to resolve the Attorneys General suit and move forward with our plans for increased competition and increased output to the benefit of the talent and entertainment workers.”
Bonta canceled the scheduled sit-down late Sunday soon after the WSJ reported details of an August 21 meetup between the parties, including details of potential remedies the AG would require to drop ongoing legal action against the Par-WBD merger.
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“My office had a meeting with Paramount on Friday. Paramount did not maintain the confidentiality of that meeting,” Bonta said in a statement to Deadline last night. He is leading a group of a dozen attorneys general in suing Paramount to block its planned acquisition of WBD on antitrust grounds. The suit, set for trial in early March, addresses three markets of concern — cable programming, blockbuster movies and wide release movies.
Ellison badly wants to settle the case well before then and has threatened to relocate the company if there’s no movement soon. Third parties from exhibitors to politicians to some guilds have also urged Bonta to resolve the litigation.
The AG has insisted on so-called “structural” remedies like asset sales or separating businesses, versus “behavioral” remedies like promises, in Ellison’s case a commitment for the combined studios to release 30 movies a year. As reported by WSJ and confirmed by Deadline, the AG’s asks include keeping the studios separate as well as unloading some cable networks.
“Not only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith,” the AG said in a statement provided to Deadline at midnight Sunday PT. “As soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again.”
The two sides are required to hold talks under court mandated mediation.
As Deadline’s earlier post noted, details of the August 21 preliminary gathering to set the agenda for the August 24 meeting had ticked out from a variety of sources. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday, “I know there are many meetings that are going on, and there’s a lot of conversations.”
