To the surprise of absolutely no one, Warner Bros Discovery has pulled its pursuit of Paramount Global, according to sources familiar with the proposed welding of legacy media and modern streaming assets. An acquisition of Paramount Global (owner of CBS) by WBD would have threatened any chances of the proposed sports streaming cartel – WBD’s disruptive joint venture with Disney and Fox – becoming a reality. Taking Paramount under its wing would have gifted WBD an extra 13% share of US sports rights (according to figures cited by FuboTV), which would have taken the as-yet-unnamed joint venture to a 67% share of sports rights in the US market. Even without Paramount, that figure could rise to as high as a…