• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 3 hours ago

How long does a news story remain newsworthy? The answer is: Until it ends.

That possibility is what the TV Blog faces today as Warner Bros. Discovery convenes a special shareholders meeting to tally up shareholder votes for or against WBD’s merger with Paramount Skydance.

If the voters vote yes, then the story of Paramount’s long pursuit of WBD comes to an end. Or does it?

This day has been long in coming. It follows months of twists and turns that turned this merger -- actually a takeover of WBD by Paramount -- into the biggest story in television during its duration.

All told, the TV Blog covered the story from its lead-up until today in 39 TV Blogs. They included blogs on topics large and small -- including David Ellison’s relentless pursuit of Paramount and WBD and the role President Trump played in all of it.

This tally actually goes back to a year-end blog in December 2023 when rumors first surfaced that Paramount Global and WBD were in talks about a merger -- two years before David Ellison and Skydance would swoop in to buy Paramount in summer 2025.

Those talks apparently went nowhere, and the story of Ellison’s determination to buy a big TV company veered in another direction as Skydance set its sights on Paramount Global.

In June 2024, a TV Blog reported that a proposed deal fell through. But in a sudden reversal, the companies announced a month later that they had agreed on a deal, which would not close until August 2025.

Before that could happen, the TV Blog wrote again and again about the fallout at CBS News that preceded the deal’s closing.

All through spring 2025, top CBS News executives resigned, “Evening News” anchors criticized Paramount on the air, and “60 Minutes” fought a two-front war against a lawsuit brought by President Trump and Paramount brass who wanted the show to take it easy on Trump so that he would bless the merger with Skydance.

Finally, Trump’s FCC approved the deal. And little more than a month later, the new Paramount Skydance made its first bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, setting off a whole new chapter in the drama.

If the WBD-Skydance drama started in September 2025, then why count all the TV Blogs that came before then?

Because it was all part of the same continuing story. Among other things, David Ellison was at the center of all of it. So was President Trump. 

So was CBS News, as Ellison installed an outsider to take over the news division -- the internet firebrand, Bari Weiss.

Fear of Trump made headlines. Weiss made headlines. Ellison made headlines. And so did the saga of Ellison’s bids and WBD’s dismissal of them.

Then a juicy new storyline arose when Netflix made a counteroffer for WBD in December 2025 and WBD announced that it had accepted it over Paramount’s bid.

“WBD To Paramount: Get Lost!” said a headline on a TV Blog on December 18. “WBD To Ellisons: Go Away Already,” said another one on January 8, 2026.

But over the next few weeks, Ellison and Paramount Skydance sweetened its offers and WBD had no choice but to capitulate and accept the final offer last month, and Netflix withdrew.

Now, the stage is set for today’s WBD shareholder vote. If the vote goes in favor of the deal, then this portion of the saga will be over.

But what’s next? The future is pregnant with possibilities. Will Trump stand in the way of this new deal too?

In this context, will CNN be pressured by Ellison and company to take it easy on Trump, so the deal can close?

Will Bari Weiss be handed the reins of CNN too?

Upon reflection, perhaps this story still has legs. Stay tuned.