UK regulators clear Paramount's $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery takeover

British competition watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) approved Paramount Skydance’s $110‑$111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, finding no substantial lessening of competition in film distribution, TV production, children’s channels or streaming services. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) also decided not to intervene after Paramount signed legally‑binding commitments.

The commitments require Channel 5’s news operation to remain editorially independent from CBS and CNN, prohibit the merging of linear TV channels with on‑demand services in the UK, and preserve the separate identities of children’s channels such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network for at least five years. Paramount also pledged additional funding for Channel 5’s news and children’s programming.

The UK approval follows clearances from the European Union and other jurisdictions, but the deal still faces a US antitrust lawsuit brought by a coalition of 12 states, with a trial scheduled for March 2027. The merger remains pending in the United States while it moves forward elsewhere.