TKO Group CEO Ari Emanuel has proposed creating an "editorial board" to oversee CNN, an idea intended to ease concerns that Larry Ellison could exert undue influence over the news network following the proposed $110 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery. The suggestion, made during a CNBC SquawkBox appearance, followed Paramount CEO David Ellison's op-ed in the New York Times defending the deal against a multi-state antitrust lawsuit, with Emanuel echoing the view that the legal challenge is partly motivated by political concerns over CNN's editorial direction rather than competition issues alone.

Emanuel argued that such a board would let the Ellisons "get to the business of making movies and television" while reassuring critics about news impartiality, though he did not address CBS's own editorial controversies under Bari Weiss. The remarks come as both sides await a ruling from federal judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin on the trial timing for the antitrust case brought by state attorneys general, including California's Rob Bonta, and coincide with Paramount Skydance's quarterly earnings announcement. Emanuel had previously called the states' opposition to the merger "absurd" in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.