On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission, led by Brendan Carr, approved the deal, which was seen as the final hurdle to the close after a fraught few months of speculation involving how President Trump may have influenced discussions given his $16 million settlement with the company in his legal battle with CBS News' 60 Minutes.

“The FCC’s approval of the Paramount-Skydance merger reeks of the worst form of corruption,” Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) said in a joint statement. “The stench of this transaction will linger over the Commission for years.”