Redstone knew this was happening years ago

This would be bad, bad, bad for the industry, to the point where pundits are predicting it would likely get blocked by the Justice Department, a la the would-be Penguin / Simon & Schuster deal a couple years ago.

Fewer studios = fewer movies for audiences and fewer buyers for filmmakers to sell to.

The Skydance/David Ellison take-over that's also in play would be a far better solution, basically keeping Paramount independent/intact, just with new owners/management.