Los Angeles, CA – Paramount and California Attorney General Rob Bonta will sit down for two straight days at the end of October to explore a deal settling the state’s lawsuit challenging the studio’s $111 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson told both sides on Friday to tell him the specific dates for the settlement conference by next Tuesday. The directive was issued after a hearing to schedule the talks, which will include the Writers Guild of America.
Lawyers for Paramount and California are “ordered to meet and confer regarding scheduling” and inform his clerk “by close of business 9/15/2026 regarding the two consecutive days in the end of October that work for an in-person settlement conference beginning at 10:00 AM,” reads the note. The meeting will be introductory, meaning there’s no guarantee it’ll be substantive. Still, it could move the needle on resolving the case before a trial next year as both sides seemingly refuse to budge on their positions relating to what a settlement could look like.
Bonta has maintained he’ll only accept structural remedies, which typically involve companies selling off parts of the combined business. So far, Paramount has only offered behavioral concessions, including a pledge to release at least 30 movies with 45-day theatrical windows. Movement on settlement talks has been slow to nonexistent. Bonta last month canceled a meeting with Paramount scheduled for the following day, accusing the studio’s representatives of acting in bad faith by leaking and misrepresenting details of a recent meeting. Paramount denied the accusations and said the studio didn’t share confidential information, stressing that it’s prepared to enter deal discussions.
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The settlement conference will take place nearly a month after the so-called $7 million-per-day ticking fee starts accruing. Paramount has threatened to leave California, with Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and Xavier Becerra expressing a preference to settle the case. The outcome of the talks will be closely watched as it could determine the fate of one of the largest media mergers in recent history.
