Paramount Skydance rejected a 30-second Freedom of the Press Foundation ad criticizing its proposed Warner Bros. Discovery merger and ties to Donald Trump, calling the spot a conflict of interest. The group says it will post the ad itself as the deal continues to face regulatory scrutiny outside the United States.

Paramount Skydance has rejected a 30-second Freedom of the Press Foundation advertisement that criticized its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery and pointed to the company’s leadership ties to Donald Trump, according to reporting published June 16.

The group said the ad was intended to run during a Paramount+ UFC livestream and would have cost about $300,000. Paramount’s advertising team told the buyer the creative was a conflict of interest and did not approve it.

Freedom of the Press Foundation advocacy chief Seth Stern accused Paramount of censorship and said the organization would instead feature the spot on its own anti-merger website.

What the ad was meant to say

The rejected spot was aimed at arguing against the media deal as a broader press-freedom issue. It targeted the planned combination of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery and raised concerns about ownership, political influence and editorial independence.

Reporting from Wired and The Guardian said the ad was being prepared for a Paramount+ UFC broadcast placement. The foundation’s criticism centered on the idea that a major media owner should not be able to refuse a message attacking its own merger.

Merger backdrop

The dispute comes after the U.S. Justice Department approved the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, but other regulatory hurdles remain outside the United States.

The deal has already drawn scrutiny from merger critics who warn about the concentration of entertainment and news assets, and about the potential for political pressure to affect editorial decisions.

What happens next

The immediate next steps are unclear. Paramount has not publicly provided more detail beyond the conflict-of-interest explanation in the reporting, and the Freedom of the Press Foundation says it plans to circulate the ad itself.

The rejection adds another point of friction around a high-profile media consolidation effort that is still under review in other jurisdictions.

Revision note

Initial automated publication.