The European Commission approved Paramount Skydance's $110bn acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on 22 July, subject to remedies1. Paramount must divest its stake in Universal International Pictures, the joint venture that handles film distribution across Europe, and commit to no film-distribution deal with Universal in Europe for ten years.
the Commission's competition directorate found enough studio competition left in the European Economic Area to clear the transaction, naming Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony, Amazon MGM, A24, Lionsgate and European producers among the remaining players, while flagging concentration risk specifically in theatrical distribution2. That is why the remedy targets a distribution joint venture rather than a content library. 65 jurisdictions have now cleared the deal or declined to challenge it.
Brussels had cleared the last structural obstacle a week earlier, when it approved the deal's Gulf equity component under the foreign subsidies rules on 14 July. This beat had expected the competition decision to land on 22 July and it did. What was not expected was that the European decision would arrive with the transaction already frozen by an American court.
Paramount's ten-year Universal commitment outlives the American litigation in a way the clearance itself does not. Divestment remedies bind on the notified transaction, so if the merger collapses the undertaking falls with it, but if it completes on any timetable, European exhibitors face a distribution market with one fewer route to screen for the next decade. Independent European distributors negotiating output deals into the 2030s should read the remedy text rather than the press release.
