The FCC's approval, which was necessary for the deal to move forward, caps a long-running corporate saga over the fate of Paramount, which owns Paramount+, the Paramount Pictures movie and television studios, the CBS television network and CBS News and Stations. Paramount also owns Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and other media brands.

Hours after announcing the approval of Skydance’s merger with Paramount, FCC chairman Brendan Carr touted the company’s commitment to “addressing bias & restoring fact-based reporting” at CBS News, among other things.

The company said it will conduct a “comprehensive review” of CBS after the merger goes through to ensure the network is operating in the public interest.

While ratings for Colbert's show have declined over the last decade, the program has consistently achieved the highest views of any show in the 11:35 p.m. hour, outdrawing ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," according to Nielsen.

David Letterman unloaded on CBS and Skydance on Friday for cancelling “The Late Show,” which he launched 32 years ago, saying the network had mistreated his successor, Stephen Colbert. In an interview posted to his YouTube channel,

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday gave the green light to the $8.4 billion merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media – finally clearing the way for a deal that had been throttled by allegations of bias against CBS News.

Skydance needs FCC approval in order to take over Paramount. It’s now promising to root out “bias” at CBS News in order to get it.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he was encouraged by Skydance commitments to reform CBS once a merger is complete.