By Harshita Mary Varghese and Dawn Chmielewski
Dec 3 (Reuters) – Media mogul Shari Redstone said on Wednesday that Paramount made the “right decision” by agreeing to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump against CBS over a “60 Minutes” interview.
Speaking at the Reuters NEXT summit in New York City, the former Paramount chair said she was not part of the actual decision-making and recused herself from the board due to the “appearance of conflict which we really believe existed.”
The lawsuit against CBS alleged that the network deceptively edited an interview that aired on its “60 Minutes” news program with former Vice President Kamala Harris in an effort to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party” in the election.
The deal drew criticism that Paramount had effectively bought regulatory approval for its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, which received the Federal Communications Commission’s green light shortly afterwards.
Redstone parted ways with Paramount when the company completed its merger, ending her family’s decades-long controlling stake in the media firm. She made her first move since Paramount by investing in and becoming chair of Israeli studio Sipur.
Media consolidation is fundamentally reshaping the entertainment industry. It is reducing the number of independent studios and creating larger integrated companies positioned to dominate both theatrical and streaming distribution as they compete with more well-financed big tech companies.
Recently, Warner Bros Discovery has put itself up for sale and is currently accepting bids from at least three major players: Paramount Skydance, Netflix and Comcast.
Redstone said the media industry will continue to see consolidation, adding that she does not know who will ultimately end up with Warner Bros Discovery.
The consolidation trend has raised concerns among analysts about its impact on theatrical exhibition, as the global box office struggles to return to pre-pandemic levels while competing with entrenched streaming habits that have changed how audiences consume content.
According to Comscore, the domestic box-office collected $7.8 billion so far this year, compared with $11 billion grossed in 2019.
“It’s more about streaming, the quality of home theaters, and changing consumer habits,” Redstone said, adding that audiences are gravitating only toward blockbuster titles at theaters.
The year-to-date gains for domestic box office this year compared to 2024 stand at a razor thin 1%, said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends.
“The industry will need to bank another $1.2 billion through December 31 to hit the $9 billion threshold for annual domestic box office,” Dergarabedian said.
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(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Anil D’Silva and Maju Samuel)
