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Source: Axios

Paramount Skydance on Tuesday closed its deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, ending a dramatic, yearlong process that rattled Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington. Why it matters: The deal creates one of the largest entertainment behemoths in the world and makes David Ellison — a lesser-known figure outside of Hollywood — one of the most powerful people in culture and business. Zoom in: The combined entity, rebranded Skydance, will house three major movie studios (Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Skydance), two global streamers (Paramount+ and HBO Max) and two major news networks (CNN and CBS).It will also create a cable juggernaut, marrying Paramount's Viacom channels, such as MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central, with WBD's cable networks, including TBS, TNT, Food Network and Discovery.The combination of those assets on the back end won't all be felt by consumers, but product changes are coming. The combined company, for example, plans to merge HBO Max and Paramount + into one giant unified streamer.The big picture: The transaction forced the entertainment industry and regulators around the world to confront how much consolidation is necessary for traditional media companies to compete with Big Tech.While some countries took a closer look at the deal than...