The FCC has approved Skydance’s US$8-billion acquisition of Paramount, clearing the way for the long-awaited merger to potentially close in the coming weeks.
The FCC voted yesterday to bless the deal, which includes Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and CBS. In a press release, the FCC noted that Skydance has committed to not establish any DEI programs and to keep CBS journalism “fair, unbiased and fact-based” amid accusations of liberal bias from the White House. The deal will inject a US$1.5-billion investment into Paramount, “bolstering all aspects of its operations, including broadcast,” according to the release.
Jeff Shell, the former CEO of NBCUniversal who was ousted in 2023 after a misconduct investigation, is set to lead the merged company as president, alongside Skydance Media owner David Ellison, who will be its CEO and chairman.
Skydance Media’s David Ellison will seve as chairman and CEO of the combined Paramount Global and Skydance company.
This deal has faced many obstacles over the last year, including Shari Redstone (majority shareholder of Paramount’s parent company National Amusements) stalling the process because she didn’t like a previous set of terms. Then in March, there was an effort to challenge the merger in court. And this month, Paramount was criticized for settling a S$16-million lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump over how a 60 Minutes interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris was edited—which many viewed as a concession to keep the merger moving.
Lone Democratic FCC commissioner Anna Gomez went on the record to oppose the deal, in part because of that settlement. In a statement, she wrote, “I cannot support this order approving this transaction in light of the payout and other troubling concessions Paramount made to settle a baseless lawsuit.”
Now that the last obstacle is cleared, the question of what this drawn-out transaction will mean for Nickelodeon, and the broader kids entertainment industry, is very much up for speculation.
Based on previous comments and investor presentations, animation seems to be a focus for the merged company. In a July 2024 call with analysts, Ellison noted that combining Nickelodeon’s talent with Skydance Animation (Spellbound, Luck) would create “an animation powerhouse that will immediately make us one of the best and most powerful within the industry.” Furthermore, kids & family content would be “incredibly important” to the businesses, Shell noted in that same call.
Though it has faced layoffs and closures during this process, Nickelodeon is a big driver for audience engagement on Paramount+, a source with insider knowledge of Nick and Paramount tells Kidscreen.
That’s a sentiment that Paramount itself expressed to Kidscreen in February 2024: Kids content drives subscriptions, consumption and repeat viewings on Paramount+, said a company spokesperson at the time. According to a Q1 financial report, Paramount+ was sitting at 79 million subscribers worldwide as of May, up 11% from the same period last year.
Nevertheless, the company has been shedding parts of its kids business to cut costs and increase value. It shut down the Noggin app and laid off that entire team in July 2024, folding the app’s content into Paramount+. And since then, Paramount has removed several kids shows from the Paramount+ library and laid off some well-known kids executives.
Nick’s linear networks have been “melting” for many years, and its best broadcast options for the “foreseeable future” are Paramount+ and YouTube, Kidscreen‘s source says. Jeff Shell could be a good leader to support Paramount’s kids business, but the economics of monetizing kids content can be challenging, and Nickelodeon being a casualty of the merger isn’t outside the realm of possibility, this person notes.
“I have heard really good things about Jeff Shell in terms of his business acumen and interests in upholding the innovation and experimentation that were once a hallmark of Nick, MTV and Noggin,” says the source. “But the monetization aspects of the kids media biz are really tough, so it would not shock me if he and the Ellisons chose to diminish or sell the Nick franchise.”
So what can Nickelodeon do during this uncertain time?
“I know there is a demand for high-quality kids TV,” the source says. “I would say that Nick has an historic opportunity to lean back in and diversify its offerings via digital games and personalized learning options.”
