Free Streamer Pluto TV Gets a Lifeline in Paramount-Warner Bros. Consent Decree

The settlement with state attorneys general says the combined company has to maintain the service for the five-year term of the deal. Free streamer Pluto TV got its own set of protections in a settlement between Paramount and state attorneys general. The headline items — rightfully so — in the consent decree between Paramount and 12 states are an increased commitment to production in the United States, an “editorial independence board” for CBS News and CNN and the fact that the combined company will still have to negotiate as two separate entities for cable carriage fees. Deeper into the document, though, is a carve-out for another piece of the Paramount empire: Pluto TV.

The free, ad-supported streaming service has been something of an afterthought in the abundance of discussion and negotiations about the megamerger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. It’s the only free streamer either of the two current companies currently operates, and because of that, Pluto received its own protections under the consent decree. Specifically, for the five-year term of the settlement, “The [merged company] shall continue to maintain and make available a free, ad-supported streaming service under the Pluto TV brand or a successor or substantially equivalent replacement brand or service.” ParaBros is also obligated to maintain “service and quality levels at or above the service and