Paramount-Warner Antitrust Trial Locked in for March 2027

A federal judge has scheduled a 12-day antitrust trial over Paramount’s Warner Bros. Discovery merger for March 2–19, 2027, with a final pretrial conference on Feb. 24, 2027, and deadlines for a joint case management statement by Aug. 13, 2026. Paramount had pushed for a 2026 date, but the court set March 2027, delaying the case and a looming $7 million-per-day ticking fee Paramount would owe WB Discovery shareholders starting Oct. 1 until closing. The suit is led by California and other states, joined by the Writers Guild of America in a separate action; Paramount maintains the deal is lawful and pro-competitive, while David Ellison argues in a NYT op-ed that the challenge is about CNN ownership rather than market power.