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A judge’s temporary restraining order in the Paramount-WBD merger runs 14 days, maybe 28. What happens inside that window — and at the preliminary injunction hearing that follows — will tell you whether the $111 billion deal closes by Paramount’s preferred deadline, drags into 2027 or dies on the courthouse steps. Here’s how each of those scenarios plays out.
The two (or four) weeks represent a chance for U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín to weigh the evidence and arguments before ruling on the states’ bigger ask: a preliminary injunction.
If the injunction goes into effect, the deal doesn’t just slow down. It goes on ice, potentially for months and likely into next year. In practical terms, an injunction pushes the fight toward trial.
PSKY has options short of the courtroom. During the TRO window it can go back to the state AGs and offer concessions to address their objections. Also keep in mind that two other clocks are running at the same time: The EU is due to weigh in with its own antitrust assessment by Wednesday, and the WGA’s separate suit — still without a procedural timeline — is on its own track entirely.
However, say the state AGs’ injunction lands. Three broad paths:
Don’t stop here
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