FCC gift disclosures raise ethics questions in Paramount merger review
ProPublica found FCC commissioners accepted Kennedy Center gala tickets from Paramount while the company had business before the agency.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
Federal Communications Commission leaders accepted high-value Kennedy Center gala access from Paramount or CBS while the company needed FCC action on major media deals, according to ethics records obtained by ProPublica. The findings could complicate the agency’s review of Paramount Skydance’s proposed Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which requires FCC approval.
ProPublica reported that Commissioner Olivia Trusty and a guest attended the December 2025 Kennedy Center Honors on Paramount tickets valued at more than $12,000. Five months earlier, Trusty had voted with FCC Chair Brendan Carr to approve Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance Media.
Carr and his wife sat in a private skybox with Paramount CEO David Ellison and other Paramount and CBS executives, Bloomberg reported. Kennedy Center guidelines said such seats sold for $125,000 each, but Carr’s financial disclosure for last year has not been made public, so ProPublica said it could not determine whether Paramount gave him the seats.
Federal gift rules generally bar employees from accepting gifts from companies regulated by, doing business with or seeking action from their agency. Four ethics specialists told ProPublica that Carr and Trusty should not participate in decisions involving the Warner Bros. Discovery deal because the tickets create an appearance problem for the FCC.
Walter Shaub, who led the Office of Government Ethics from 2013 to 2017, told ProPublica that senior regulators should not accept gifts from regulated businesses whose interests could be affected by their official work. Virginia Canter, a former ethics lawyer at several federal agencies and the White House, told ProPublica that participation by commissioners who accepted the tickets would damage confidence in the process.
Years of gala invitations
ProPublica said Carr and Trusty are part of a longer pattern at the FCC. Its review of disclosures found that seven of the 10 commissioners who served since 2016 accepted Kennedy Center Honors tickets from CBS or its parent company, with the gifts totaling more than $260,000.
Carr’s earlier financial reports show at least seven sets of tickets since he joined the commission in 2017, worth more than $63,000, according to ProPublica. The outlet also reported that commissioners accepted more than $308,000 in gifts over a decade for events and trips from various sponsors, including media companies regulated by the FCC.
Paramount chief communications officer Melissa Zukerman told ProPublica that CBS had for decades invited government officials from both parties to the Kennedy Center event. An FCC spokesperson told ProPublica that agency ethics officials had cleared appearances at the event for years and said attendance had been consistent across recent administrations.
Neither Carr nor Trusty responded to ProPublica’s requests for comment. Commissioner Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democrat, told ProPublica she followed agency guidance when she attended the event in 2023 and 2024, but she did not explain why those tickets did not create a conflict.
Merger stakes
The FCC now has three commissioners, and a full commission vote would require all three for a quorum. ProPublica reported that any recusal could leave the commission unable to decide the Warner Bros. Discovery transaction, though Carr could ask FCC staff to approve a deal rather than bring it to a vote.
The proposed $110 billion consolidation would combine Paramount Skydance with Warner Bros. Discovery. ProPublica reported that the deal would place CBS, CNN, Paramount+, HBO Max and other channels and platforms under one company.
The transaction faces legal and political pressure. California, New York and 10 other Democratic-led states sued Monday to block the merger under antitrust laws, according to ProPublica, and more than 5,000 entertainment workers signed an open letter opposing the consolidation.
Ethics experts told ProPublica the gifts could become part of legal challenges to any FCC decision. Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, told ProPublica that a court could question an agency decision if the review process appeared tainted by ethics violations.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.