cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16629163
Supposedly for petty personal reasons:
The woman who controls the company, Shari Redstone, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory last week as she scuttled a planned merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
Redstone had spent six months negotiating a complicated deal that would have given control of Paramount to Ellison and RedBird Capital, only to call it off as it neared the finish line.
The chief reason for her decision: Her reluctance to let go of a family heirloom she fought very hard to get.
I cross posted this from c/Avatar, but I am a Trekkie too and don’t like this one bit.
FYI previous articles seemed to imply the Sony deal is dead.
Oh thank god. Skydance is utter, utter shit. They would just destroy Star Trek. Sony might actually help it, because they’re pretty good about pushing franchises, but if that’s dead, it’s dead.
The worst case scenario is pretty bad though, namely Paramount implodes and licensing nonsense means Trek has to be pulled from distribution platforms, with literally no legal way to watch.
EDIT: I’m less worried about this for Trek than Avatar though. I know it has a rough history with being put on ice, but it’s still a big, provably profitable IP.
I wonder if there is some sort of legal way to transfer the rights to Roddenberry Entertainment if Paramount folds?
If Roddenberry Entertainment has an absolute fortune to burn and can somehow separate the license from the pile of IP it will be bundled with, maybe.
Dead IPs tend to be squatted on, too potentially valuable to just give away.
But again, now I think Trek is just too popular and profitable for this to happen. Some shark will find a way to pick it up.
Thank Q…
