The European Commission approved Paramount Skydance’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, marking a major regulatory win for the $110 billion deal even as it faces obstacles in the United States. To secure the green light, Paramount agreed to sell off its stake in a film distribution joint venture with United International Pictures in Europe, and pledged not to enter any film distribution arrangement with Universal in Europe for the next ten years.

Commission investigators found the combined company wouldn’t create undue pressure on film production or broadcasting, concluding there are enough studios across the European Economic Area to keep the market competitive — naming rivals like Disney, Universal, Sony, Amazon MGM, A24, Lionsgate, and various European producers as sufficient counterweights.

The EU’s blessing stands in contrast to the deal’s rockier path in the US. A coalition of state attorneys general, led by California’s Rob Bonta, sued to stop the merger on antitrust grounds, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order pausing the transaction for two weeks while the court weighs the states’ case. The Writers Guild of America has also sued, and so have Paramount+ subscribers, although a separate consumer group’s request for a preliminary injunction was denied after a judge found they hadn’t shown they’d suffer irreparable harm or were likely to win their case.

Paramount has pushed back on the states’ arguments, saying the EU’s conclusions undercut the market assumptions the lawsuit rests on. The company has said it still expects to close the deal by the end of September, and following the EU’s decision, regulators or governments in 65 jurisdictions have now either cleared the merger or chosen not to challenge it — including the US Department of Justice, which cleared it back in April.