In the aftermath of the company’s $16 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump, Paramount Global CEO George Cheeks told shareholders that there was a reason to do so, even if CBS had long argued that the litigation was meritless.

With its merger with Skydance near the finish line, the agreement “allows companies to focus on their core objectives rather than being mired in uncertainty and distraction.”

But it’s not entirely over yet, not only because First Amendment groups and legal experts warn that it will only embolden Trump, but there are still some pending proceedings at the FCC and the prospect that the company will face a shareholder lawsuit.

Here’s what’s ahead:

Separate from Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against the network is an FCC complaint filed by a conservative group, the Center for American Rights, over the same topic, a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.

During the Oct. 7 sitdown, Bill Whitaker asked her why Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not listening to the Biden administration.

Harris replied, “Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region. And we’re not going to stop doing that. We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”

The second part of Harris’ answer was shown on the 60 Minutes broadcast on October 7. The first part was shown one day earlier, in a preview segment of Face the Nation.

The Center for American Rights filed its complaint in October, the same month that Trump filed his lawsuit. The group claimed a violation of the FCC’s “news distortion” policy, where broadcasters can be held liable “if it can be proven that they have deliberately distorted a factual news report.” But the policy has rarely been invoked, and the FCC even cautions that its authority to take action on alleged new bias is “narrow.”

Just before she departed the agency, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel dismissed that and other complaints, warning that the agency “should not be the president’s speech police.”

But when Trump took office, his choice to lead the FCC, Brendan Carr, revived the complaint. After requesting that CBS hand over the unedited transcript of the 60 Minutes interview, the network did, along with unedited video. The network said that it showed what it had long held: There was no deception.

Rather than rendering a judgment on the complaint, Carr sent it out for a period of public comment. That time frame has ended, and Carr has not given a time frame when there would be a resolution. Another question is whether the network would risk some kind of sanction or even a fine. Carr has not ruled out possible options. Technically, the complaint was filed against WCBS, as the FCC licenses broadcast stations, not networks. But any license revocation, which Trump has called for, would be unprecedented.

CBS has argued that not only is there no evidence of news distortion, but some kind of an FCC sanction would “violate the First Amendment and chill speech,” placing the commission in the role of an “arbiter of acceptable journalism.”

The agency has to sign off on the transaction, as it is tasked with deciding whether the Skydance-Paramount deal is in the public interest.

The agency sets an informal, 180-day timeline to conduct reviews of proposed transactions, but it is not too out of the ordinary to exceed that timeline. As of Wednesday, the FCC is at day 229, and Carr has not indicated when a decision will be made.

The sole Democrat on the FCC, Anna Gomez, sharply criticized Paramount for not fighting the Trump lawsuit, calling the settlement a “payout.” She also is calling on a vote before the commission. “Approving this transaction behind closed doors and under the cover of bureaucratic process would be a shameful outcome that denies the American people the transparency and accountability they deserve, especially when press freedom is at stake,” she said.

After filing a Freedom of Information Act request, Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press initiated a lawsuit last week against the FCC, seeking a release of records “that could shed light on how the agency uses its regulatory power over news organizations for coverage perceived as critical or unfavorable.”

A spokesperson for Carr did not return a request for comment on Wednesday.

Past proposed mergers have been denied or sent to an administrative law judge. The latter has had the impact of further delaying a transaction to the point of effectively scuttling them, and the Skydance-Paramount deal’s extensions for closing run through October.

Transactions typically include certain conditions, and Carr has said that “any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”

In its announcement of the settlement, Paramount Global said that the Trump lawsuit settlement was “separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction.” Yet the president himself has connected the two. Asked last month about what was holding up the Skydance-Paramount deal, Trump appeared to praise Skydance CEO David Ellison before going into his complaints about 60 Minutes.

Before he took the chairmanship in November, Carr also said that the Center for American Rights’ “news distortion” complaint was “likely to arise” as part of the merger review. The group is urging Carr to place conditions on Paramount that CBS News “engage in ‘fair and balanced journalism,’ by taking concrete steps to end pervasive newsroom bias and slanted stories.” Paramount-Skydance representatives have argued that a “viewpoint neutrality” condition would “improperly encroach on broadcasters’ editorial discretion and is squarely foreclosed by the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent.”

The Freedom of the Press Foundation had previously said that it planned to file a lawsuit if there was a settlement. Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the organization, said that they filed a shareholder demand for books and records of the settlement decision, including corporate discussion of the risks, benefits and drawbacks. They planned to send a second letter on Wednesday, and are considering legal options, Stern said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called for a congressional investigation of the settlement on Wednesday, something that is unlikely given GOP control of Congress. But what happens if Democrats take control of one chamber (or more) in next year’s midterms? It’s still a long way away, and the whole affair may be far in the background by then. But in warning about a settlement last week, the right-leaning editorial board of The Wall Street Journal wrote, “The FCC would categorically deny any connection between its approval and a multi-million-dollar check to Mr. Trump, and the Justice Department under current management wouldn’t poke around. But Democrats might run the House again in 18 months.”