Yesterday, a last minute Hail Mary was thrown in an attempt to stop the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance. An emergency application was filed by consumers Monday to the Supreme Court in hopes of halting the deal. Five consumers who said they were Paramount subscribers, viewers, and cable customers, argued that the merger was anticompetitive.

The filing used the deal between a dozen state Attorneys General and Paramount to highlight the magnitude of the deal and that the settlement’s “safeguards” were not enough. The argument continued that the deal allowed singular control and ownership of competing studios, streaming products, and news organizations, eliminating their independence from each other. The settlement has widely been seen as a negative and falling short by the public but hailed by the politicians behind it and oligarchs who benefit from it.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan shot down the request.

The deal was finalized this morning and with it comes $80 billion+ in debt the new company has to figure out how to pay down. The likely solution will be massive cuts in jobs, heavy reliance on technology and AI, and the selling of underperforming assets.