Judge Martínez-Olguín requests parties submit replies to Sen. Booker's request for an independent public-interest review
\n\nThe judge overseeing the antitrust case filed by 12 state attorneys general seeking to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger questioned the parties about their settlement at a hearing Thursday.
\n\nU.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín has not yet ruled on whether to approve the proposed settlement, and set the virtual hearing to cover “outstanding questions” about it. She did not indicate when she might issue a ruling, saying that it would be coming in “due course.”
\n\nOne key bit of “homework” the judge assigned: Martínez-Olguín asked the parties to submit replies to a letter submitted to the court by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), by noon PT Monday, Sept. 28.
\n\nOn Thursday, Booker sent a letter to the court seeking a ruling to halt to the Paramount-WBD merger, saying he was writing “to urge the Court to subject the proposed consent decree to an independent public-interest review before entering it.” Unlike a federal antitrust consent judgment, the Paramount-state AGs settlement “has reached the Court without a competitive impact statement, without a public comment period, and without any formal opportunity for theaters, distributors, workers, or consumers to…
Original source: https://variety.com/v/tv/