Paramount has asked a federal judge for a three day evidentiary hearing next month before considering whether there should be a preliminary injunction to stop Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
On Monday, Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin temporarily paused the deal with a two week restraining order, after hearing arguments from Paramount and 12 states fighting the merger. The states are asking for a preliminary injunction that would continue to block it until the judge can consider the antitrust case. That preliminary injunction could last months, pushing Paramount past its September 30 deadline for closing the deal, after which the company would owe a “ticking fee” to Warner Bros. investors.
Following that temporary restraining order, the judge set a hearing date for August 3 to begin the preliminary injunction hearing.
In its filing Wednesday, Paramount asked instead for a three day hearing for the week of August 17 or August 24, giving each party a chance to make their case and for the judge to give a quick decision about the merger.
“The lawsuit filed by the state attorneys general, in the most generous light, reflects a fundamentally flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law,” Paramount’s representative wrote in a statement following the states challenging of the merger.
The company reiterated that idea in its Wednesday filing, saying that a shortened evidentiary hearing would allow the judge to look at “critical factual issues including market definition, real-world competitive dynamics, barriers to expansion, and incentives.” The company believes that the Court will see that the states cannot prove that the merger “substantially lessens competition.”
Meanwhile the Writers Guild of America is also looking for a preliminary injunction against the merger, asking to also be heard on August 3. Paramount said that date is “not feasible” and has asked for the date to be pushed to later in August.
