Paramount Gifts to FCC Officials Stir Ethics Questions in Mega Merger Review

ProPublica reports that FCC commissioners Olivia Trusty and Brendan Carr attended the Kennedy Center honors with expensive tickets gifted by Paramount, part of gifts totaling over $308,000 from CBS/Paramount over a decade. Experts say accepting these gifts while ruling on Paramount’s deals creates a clear conflict of interest and could require recusal from merger decisions, as the agency weighs Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance and other deals. The story highlights ongoing debates over ethics guidelines, the FCC’s limited quorum, and the potential for litigation or challenges to approvals, while Paramount defends the long-running practice of inviting officials to the gala.