Paramount/WBD merger conditions give the public “virtually nothing,” judge is told

派拉蒙与华纳兄弟探索公司的合并条件被指对公众“几乎毫无益处”

Free speech and media advocacy groups urged a judge to block a California settlement with Paramount Skydance that would let the company finalize its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. Twelve states led by California sued to block the deal in July and were able to delay it when US District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled that Paramount combining with Warner Bros. would likely reduce competition substantially and violate antitrust laws. 言论自由与媒体倡导团体敦促法官阻止加利福尼亚州与派拉蒙天空之舞（Paramount Skydance）达成的和解协议，该协议将允许该公司完成其与华纳兄弟探索公司（Warner Bros. Discovery）价值 1110 亿美元的合并。今年 7 月，以加州为首的 12 个州提起诉讼以阻止该交易，并成功将其推迟，当时美国地方法官阿拉塞利·马丁内斯-奥尔金（Araceli Martínez-Olguín）裁定，派拉蒙与华纳兄弟的合并可能会大幅削减竞争并违反反垄断法。

Despite that initial victory, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement with Paramount earlier this week and the other states involved in the lawsuit signed on to the deal. Martínez-Olguín must decide whether to approve the settlement. A coalition of free speech and media advocacy groups told the judge in a filing yesterday that the deal will give residents of the states that sued Paramount “virtually nothing.” 尽管取得了初步胜利，但加州总检察长罗伯·邦塔（Rob Bonta）在本周早些时候宣布与派拉蒙达成和解，诉讼涉及的其他州也签署了该协议。马丁内斯-奥尔金法官必须决定是否批准该和解方案。一个由言论自由和媒体倡导团体组成的联盟在昨日提交给法官的文件中表示，该协议对起诉派拉蒙的各州居民来说“几乎毫无益处”。

The filing was submitted by the Committee for the First Amendment, Free Press, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Future Film Coalition, and International Documentary Association. Bonta “publicly criticized the very behavioral remedies that the parties now ask the Court to approve,” the filing said. That’s a reference to Bonta saying that proposed merger conditions such as Paramount’s pledge to release 30 movies a year are “typically not enforceable in the way that we like,” and “not particularly good at solving the problem.” 该文件由第一修正案委员会（Committee for the First Amendment）、自由新闻组织（Free Press）、新闻自由基金会（Freedom of the Press Foundation）、未来电影联盟（Future Film Coalition）以及国际纪录片协会（International Documentary Association）共同提交。文件中指出，邦塔“曾公开批评过各方现在要求法院批准的这些行为补救措施”。这是指邦塔曾表示，诸如派拉蒙承诺每年发行 30 部电影之类的合并条件“通常无法以我们希望的方式执行”，且“在解决问题方面效果并不理想”。

The groups said the lawsuit filed by states two months ago alleged that “the tie-up would ‘extinguish competition’ between the two and raise prices, reduce output, lower quality, and lessen choice… But whatever the reasons for the States’ about-face, neither time nor circumstance changes the fact that this merger lessens competition.” The League of United Latin American Citizens raised similar concerns in its own court filing. 这些团体表示，各州两个月前提交的诉讼称，“此次合并将‘扼杀’双方之间的竞争，并导致价格上涨、产量减少、质量下降以及选择变少……但无论各州态度转变的原因是什么，时间和环境都无法改变这一合并削弱竞争的事实。”联合拉丁美洲公民联盟（League of United Latin American Citizens）也在其提交的法庭文件中提出了类似的担忧。

The states alleged that the “merger would permanently eliminate competition between Defendants over the films and television programming Americans can watch,” but the settlement “leaves that loss of independent decision-making largely intact,” the filing said. “The proposed consent decree requires no divestiture as a condition of closing. Instead, it relies on conduct commitments that leave important pleaded harms unaddressed even when the combined company fully complies,” the Latin American group said. 文件称，各州曾指控“此次合并将永久消除被告在电影和电视节目领域对美国观众的竞争”，但和解协议“在很大程度上保留了这种独立决策权的丧失”。该拉丁裔组织表示：“拟议的同意令并未要求将资产剥离作为成交条件。相反，它依赖于行为承诺，即使合并后的公司完全遵守这些承诺，诉讼中提出的重要损害也依然无法得到解决。”

Judge has some questions

法官提出质疑

At a hearing yesterday in US District Court for the Northern District of California, Martínez-Olguín told lawyers that “the court isn’t a rubber stamp of your agreement… I have some questions,” Variety reported. Martínez-Olguín reportedly said she wants to ensure “that this is not something that was the result of collusion, but instead was more of an arm’s length process.” 据《综艺》（Variety）报道，在昨日于美国加利福尼亚北区地方法院举行的听证会上，马丁内斯-奥尔金法官告诉律师们：“法院不是你们协议的橡皮图章……我有一些疑问。”据报道，马丁内斯-奥尔金表示，她希望确保“这并非串通的结果，而是一个公平的交易过程”。

Martínez-Olguín asked the parties to submit replies to a letter sent by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who said the companies should be required to explain “how each provision remedies each harm alleged in the complaint.” Booker wrote that “the Court should measure the proposed remedies against the relief the States originally sought: an injunction blocking the merger altogether,” and argued that the settlement doesn’t address the lawsuit’s core claims that the merger is anticompetitive and will eliminate jobs. 马丁内斯-奥尔金要求各方对参议员科里·布克（Cory Booker，民主党，新泽西州）发出的信函提交回复。布克在信中表示，应要求这些公司解释“每一项条款如何补救诉状中指控的每一项损害”。布克写道，“法院应根据各州最初寻求的救济措施——即全面阻止合并的禁令——来衡量拟议的补救措施”，并指出该和解协议并未解决诉讼的核心主张，即合并具有反竞争性并将导致裁员。

Judges evaluating settlements generally look at whether a deal resolves the lawsuit’s complaint and whether it was tainted by collusion or corruption. Even if a judge personally does not like a settlement, the judge may still approve it if it meets the minimum legal standards for fairness and reasonableness. The free speech and media groups’ filing said the deal with Paramount should be rejected “because it is both procedurally and substantively unfair to third parties and the public.” 评估和解协议的法官通常会考察协议是否解决了诉讼中的投诉，以及是否受到串通或腐败的影响。即使法官个人不喜欢某项和解协议，只要它符合公平和合理的最低法律标准，法官仍可能予以批准。言论自由和媒体团体的文件称，与派拉蒙的交易应被拒绝，“因为它在程序和实质上对第三方和公众都是不公平的”。

The filing responded to each major provision in the proposed settlement that was submitted for the court’s approval. The film distribution guarantees “appear to lock in fewer films post-closing than the parties are committing to produce in 2027 on their own,” the groups said. The commitment to release 30 films is lower “than what the companies have together forecasted to investors for 2027 as independent companies,” the filing said. Warner Bros. projected it would release 19 films while Paramount forecast 15 or more, the filing said. 该文件对提交法院批准的拟议和解协议中的每一项主要条款都作出了回应。这些团体表示，电影发行保证“似乎锁定了合并后发行的电影数量，这比双方承诺在 2027 年独立制作的电影数量还要少”。文件中指出，发行 30 部电影的承诺“低于两家公司作为独立公司共同向投资者预测的 2027 年发行量”。文件称，华纳兄弟预计将发行 19 部电影，而派拉蒙预计将发行 15 部或更多。

Small business owners “get nothing”

小企业主“一无所获”

If Paramount fails to release enough films, it would be required to divest Miramax Studios and pay $30 million per missed film toward the health and retirement trust funds of various unions and to the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) for more antitrust enforcement. Meanwhile, “small business owners and independent contractors like those that populate the independent and documentary industries—the very groups that would stand to potentially gain from greater production and distribution in competitive markets—get nothing,” the filing by free speech and media groups said. 如果派拉蒙未能发行足够数量的电影，它将被要求剥离米拉麦克斯影业（Miramax Studios），并为每部未发行的电影支付 3000 万美元，用于各工会的健康和退休信托基金，以及支付给全国总检察长协会（NAAG）以加强反垄断执法。与此同时，言论自由和媒体团体的文件指出，“像独立电影和纪录片行业中那些小企业主和独立承包商——这些本应从竞争市场中获得更多生产和发行机会的群体——却一无所获。”

The settlement requires Paramount to set up an “Editorial Independence Board” for CBS News and CNN. The Editorial Independence Board members would be chosen by Paramount and would report to Paramount’s board of directors, which is chaired by CEO David Ellison. “To be sure, there are serious questions about editorial independence following reports that the Ellisons offered President Trump what were described as ‘sweeping changes’ and an ‘overhaul’ at CNN in exchange for federal regulatory approval of this merger,” the free speech and media groups said. 该和解协议要求派拉蒙为 CBS 新闻和 CNN 设立一个“编辑独立委员会”。该委员会成员将由派拉蒙挑选，并向由首席执行官大卫·埃里森（David Ellison）担任主席的派拉蒙董事会汇报。言论自由和媒体团体表示：“可以肯定的是，在有报道称埃里森家族向特朗普总统提供了所谓的 CNN ‘全面变革’和‘彻底整改’，以换取联邦监管机构对此次合并的批准后，人们对编辑独立性产生了严重的质疑。”