Paramount Skydance Corp. is prepared — if necessary — to divest some children’s TV network assets to help win European Union approval of its $110 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., it is being reported.
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| Paramount’s Nickelodeon is one of the best-known children’s television brands in Europe. | Photographer: Maya Dehlin Spach/Getty Images |
While Paramount is hoping to avoid selling off anything, it’s open to sacrificing kids channels if the EU raises red flags over overlaps that pose a threat to competition, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to
Bloomberg under condition of anonymity.
Paramount's kids TV assets include the Nickelodeon portfolio of channels - Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nick Jr. and TeenNick, and is the home of beloved properties such as
SpongeBob SquarePants,
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,
Avatar: The Last Airbender,
The Loud House,
PAW Patrol and more. It's unclear, if a sale of Nickelodeon occurs, whether Paramount will keep certain Nickelodeon properties, as many have projects in development at different divisions around the company, such as
TMNT and
Avatar games at the newly-minted Paramount Games Studio. In Europe, Paramount also owns and operates the free-to-air Italian kids channel, Super!.
Bloomberg Intelligence Analyst Jennifer Rie broke down the potential problems that Paramount could run into in relation to the European Commission. “It’s certainly likely that the commission will scrutinize overlaps between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery in the wholesale supply of children’s television channels. Concerns would be raised if combined market shares exceed 40% in any country.”
Ironically enough, selling its properties might have Paramount meeting with a familiar face in this merger.
Netflix, who Paramount beat out in a bidding war for WBD., has been acquiring the rights to quite a few properties from Nickelodeon in recent years. Franchises like
SpongeBob SquarePants,
Rocko’s Modern Life,
Avatar: The Last Airbender,
Invader Zim,
Fairly OddParents,
Victorious, and
The Loud House have brought new projects to the platform, so seeing the streaming service purchase these properties in the future would make sense. Even if Netflix takes over the properties, it would be anyone’s guess what the fate of Nickelodeon as a cable channel would be.
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