Much like old HBO, there was a lot of intrigue, betrayal, and gore.
Oh! And they’re also showing it on screen: House of the Dragoncommonly known as Game of Thrones sequel is really a prequel, but whatever it is, it’ll work, debuting this Sunday. I’ve seen the first episode, and without breaking the embargo, I can at least tell you that he will have one dragon.
But the behind-the-scenes drama of HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery (the programmers and the company that owns CNN and Warner Bros. Studios) has the people of Medialand chatting. What’s going on? And all this is important for the rest of us too. What about all the things we want to see on our screens?
We got the latest chapter earlier this week when HBO Max, a streaming service that includes HBO and other shows, let go of 70 people. This is his 14% of its staff and is the first wave of layoffs across Warner Bros. Discovery, which sources say will continue into the fall. And it comes right after a few moves – like CNN+ shutting down a few days after it started, or shutting it down when it was finished. bat girl Pulled films for HBO Max like Seth Rogen before releasing the film to the general public american pickles and Anne Hathaway’s witches Off HBOMax — This shows that the company formerly known as WarnerMedia, once one of the world’s most powerful media companies, is now looking to scale back in order to survive.
It’s an almost complete turn-around from the playbook used by WarnerMedia’s previous owners, and we’ll get to the details in a moment. Remember that Netflix chill we talked about earlier this year? It’s officially happening.
And that means the endless stream of movies and shows we’ve grown accustomed to is not going to last forever. The endless budgets that the media have put in will eventually come to an end. Case in point: DemimondJ.J. Abrams’ Big Deal Sci-Fi Series — The Producer/Director Who Brought You Out lost and the latest round Star Wars It was supposed to be an HBO show, like reboots and stuff like that and Hollywood values.
A quick history lesson: The main idea behind AT&T’s acquisition of then-WarnerMedia (first announced in 2016 but not completed until 2018) was that the phone company turned HBO into its own Netflix. and Wall Street would be rewarded for owning AT&T. Own Netflix. In 2021, when it became clear that investors didn’t care about his AT&T media forays, AT&T flipped a switch and sold its entertainment assets to Discovery. 90 days fiancée.
But right now, Discovery has multiple problems. First of all, the company has his $53 billion in debt, much of which was taken over by the Warner deal. So instead of spending aggressively to compete against Netflix and Disney, we need to look under the cushions of our sofas for change, and David Zaslav, CEO of the newly merged company, said that Wall Street Promised $3 billion in cost savings… somewhere.
But the bigger issue is the one everyone in the streaming industry is grappling with right now, including Netflix. Wall Street doesn’t like Netflix anymore. Netflix stock, which rose to $700 last fall, is now down 50%. lost Subscriber. So Wall Street, which has encouraged media companies to adopt the Netflix growth first, profits maybe later strategy, is asking them to change course. (One important exception from this: Amazon and Apple are tech companies that dabble in the media, so basically you can spend as much money as you want on programming. ring of power — trillions of dollars Lord of the Ring A prequel to the Amazon game of thronesNot coincidentally debuting in a few weeks House of the Dragon.)
For Netflix, this means headcount reductions, an unprecedented move to add advertising to the lower tier of the service, and the end of ever-growing content budgets.
And at Warner Bros. Discovery, that means layoffs everywhere. Not only are jobs cut first and foremost, but it also includes expensive bets like CNN+, a streaming service that Discovery canceled just weeks after launching.
This also means Discovery is unwinding other projects done by Warner’s previous management.Remember when Warner put every movie on HBO Max the day it debuted in theaters during the pandemic? Did they say the other movie would show up in 45 days? Elviswas already streaming on the previous 45-day plan, but is not on HBO Max yet.
At least in the eyes of former Warner executives, it was an equally big deal. Under Zaslav, the company is preparing to begin selling his HBO Max via Amazon again, which will ultimately undermine the company’s ability to sell directly to consumers.
The acrimonious debates on the subject between Warner’s old and new management are of interest to professional media watchers like myself. But it’s important beyond industry gossip because it represents two very different ideas of his on how to run a media company. His CEO of Discovery, David Zaslav, and his team have gone out of their way to portray its predecessor, led by his former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Killer, as starry. I turned to the techs who noticed a streaming bug and couldn’t think of anything else. And the former Warner folks I’ve spoken to think the Discovery guys (yes, mostly guys) only know how to merge, split up, and hope someone else will buy them sooner or later. and do not know how to grow the business in the long term.
The truth is probably a little bit of both. A former WarnerMedia executive admits, “We’ve gone a little crazy.” “But we knew we weren’t going to do it forever. I think it’s right to step back a bit now.”
Or, as HBO programming boss Casey Bloys told me diplomatically this week: [you have] Cable bundling is still a great business, but it is declining. The streaming business is dominating, but people aren’t making a lot of money. So you are trying to find a balance. ”
And despite what you’ve read and heard, HBO’s new owners haven’t fundamentally scaled back HBO, says Bloys. “Our budget will continue to grow,” he said.
But Bloys, and everyone else who manages the business at Warner, has been asked to make less, and hopes that what he makes is truly a breakthrough. House of the DragonHBO’s first attempt to build on it game of thrones Success is a big deal in any situation. But now? Even if Bloys tries to manage expectations, it’s going to be a really big deal.
Yes, Discovery plans to integrate its streaming service with HBO Max sometime next year. This means that at some point you will be able to subscribe to something that includes both. House of the Dragon When Doctor Pimple Popper, a discovery reality show just for what you think. You can turn your nose at that pairing, when in order to subscribe to HBO you also had to get a package of cable channels that was completely different from HBO, and it’s a lot like TV once was. Streaming isn’t going away, but the cable TV model will be around for a while.
