A group of streaming video customers tried to put the brakes on one of the biggest media mergers in history. A federal judge just told them they did not bring nearly enough to back that up.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín rejected the request to temporarily stop Paramount Skydance Corp. from buying Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. The deal is valued at $110 billion. The judge was blunt: the plaintiffs "failed to submit a single item of evidence" to support their demand for a block.
She also raised "serious doubts about standing to pursue the antitrust claims" - meaning she questioned whether these consumers are even the right people to bring the case in the first place. She called the legal arguments "no coherent connection" to the issues at hand.
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The consumers filed the lawsuit back in April 2026. They argue that both this deal and the earlier Skydance-Paramount merger from 2025 will raise streaming subscription prices and reduce competition in national news and theatrical movie releases. The judge is not buying that yet.
Consumers' attorney Joseph Alioto argued in court: "Under the law, we don't need to be any more specific. But we could be if we had the same data that Paramount gave to the Justice Department and state attorneys general." He added, "private plaintiffs are at a severe disadvantage in that regard."
Paramount's position is that the plaintiffs have presented zero evidence to support their claims and lack the legal standing to bring this lawsuit.
This consumer lawsuit is not the only challenge facing the merger. California, along with other Democratic state attorneys general, filed a separate lawsuit this week opposing the deal. So did the Writers Guild of America.
Judge Martínez-Olguín already oversees two other lawsuits against the merger, and now these new cases land on her desk too. She has a hearing scheduled for Friday to discuss the states' request to pause the deal while the court decides whether to halt it until a trial - which might not happen until next spring.
The states are asking for a two-week pause while the judge weighs whether to stop the merger completely until that trial. That trial, if it happens, would decide if the deal can be blocked for good.
Meanwhile, the companies are moving ahead. They expect approval from European regulators next week, which would remove one of the last big regulatory hurdles standing in the way.
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