The $8.4 billion acquisition of Paramount Global by Skydance is a done deal, but at what cost? The road to receiving regulatory approval has been long and mired. Disconcerting information surfaced last week, just before the FCC’s greenlight, showing letters from Skydance’s lawyers promising to end all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts post-merger—in a bid to expedite the deal. So this is what Skydance meant when it announced plans to “enhance and reinvigorate” the CBS brand as well as Paramount, when the deal was first approved by shareholders in July 2024. Ironically, both CBS and Paramount brands are arguably in the worst period of public awareness in their collective histories. FCC Chair Brendan Carr praised the commitment to remove…