U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin has signed off on a settlement allowing Paramount to close its $111 billion megadeal for Warner Bros. Discovery.
The judge has entered a consent decree agreed to by Paramount, the states and the Writers Guild of America. The deal is now expected to close on Tuesday October 6th.
This ends a months-long stalemate between the studio and states challenging the acquisition and the last obstacle to CEO David Ellison merging the two legacy Hollywood studios.
Under the agreement, Paramount and Warner Bros. must release at least 30 theatrical films a year for the first two years and 32 for the following three.
It must also maintain minimum numbers of wide and independent releases, and ensure that at least half of the films are produced or jointly produced by the combined company.
If the studios fail to meet the annual quota, a penalty of $30 million per film will be applied. Also locked in are 45-day theatrical windows and a 90-day SVOD holdback for qualifying films.
Failure to comply on either the film front or certain basic cable negotiation elements could see the studio being forced to divest its stakes in studios and cable channels like Miramax, VH1 and Comedy Central.
Source: THR
