Can Paramount "gift" its way past the FCC?

July 23, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

From a ProPublica investigation, here is a story that pits a $111 billion media merger against federal ethics rules—and against the dwindling trust Americans have in their government. At the center are two Republican FCC commissioners who voted to approve a merger between Paramount and Skydance in July 2025, and who then accepted lavish gifts from the very company they regulate. The gifts in question: tickets to the Kennedy Center Honors, an exclusive annual event broadcast by CBS, which is owned by Paramount’s parent company, Paramount Skydance.

The gifts in plain sight

ProPublica reporter Corey Johnson found that FCC Commissioner Olivia Trustee accepted over $12,000 in tickets as a gift from Paramount to attend the event. Meanwhile, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and his wife received even better seats—a private skybox with Paramount CEO David Ellison. The price for one seat in that skybox: $125,000. If Carr disclosed both his and his wife’s tickets, that would represent a $250,000 gift. His financial disclosure has not yet been made public, so the full amount remains a mystery.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:27) **The Setup: A Widespread Belief in Government Corruption** - Two-thirds of Americans believe the federal government is corrupt, setting the stage for a story about public officials acting in ways that damage trust.
2 (01:16) **The Investigation: FCC Officials and Lavish Gifts** - ProPublica reporter Corey Johnson reveals that FCC leaders accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from Paramount Skydance, a company with business before the commission.
3 (03:11) **The Paramount-Skydance Merger** - Background on the merger deal that was approved by the FCC in a 2-1 vote in July 2025, setting the context for the gifts that followed.
4 (03:38) **The Kennedy Center Honors: A Pattern of Gifts** - Republican FCC Commissioners Olivia Trustee and Brendan Carr attended the exclusive event with tickets gifted by Paramount.
5 (05:36) **Bipartisan Acceptance of Freebies** - The lone Democratic FCC commissioner, Anna Gomez, also accepted tickets to the Honors in 2023 and 2024, showing the practice is not limited to one party.
6 (06:05) **The Legal Problem: Federal Ethics Rules** - Federal law prohibits officials from accepting anything of value from entities they regulate or that seek to do business with the government.
7 (06:20) **The Conflict of Interest: A New Mega-Merger** - Paramount Skydance is seeking FCC approval to buy Warner Bros. Discovery for $111 billion.

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Show Notes

Paramount’s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery has a few hurdles ahead of it. One of them is an FCC approval. But a recent investigation shows that Paramount and the FCC have a dubious relationship, one with potential conflicts of interest.

Fact checking by Sierra Juarez.

Your Next Listen
— Why Paramount went looney tunes for Warner Bros.

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