A US federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a group of Paramount+ subscribers who sought to block Paramount's $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled on Wednesday that the plaintiffs — three current and two prospective subscribers — lacked standing and had failed to demonstrate any "cognisable" economic harm sufficient to trigger antitrust concerns, though she gave them the option to amend and refile their complaint.

The judge found the complaint relied on generic claims of "lower quality and variety" and "decreased consumer choice" without evidence that such harms had occurred or were likely to. She will also oversee separate, more substantial antitrust challenges to the merger brought by 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America, with a trial scheduled for 2 March 2027. Paramount-Skydance chief executive David Ellison has argued in a New York Times op-ed that opposition to the deal stems less from competition concerns than from unease over his potential control of CNN, given his ties to President Trump, insisting he does not intend to influence the network's editorial stance.