A new corporate governance structure was established ahead of the anticipated closing of the $43 billion WarnerMedia-Discovery merger.
David Zaslav, who has been Discovery’s CEO since 2007, will take on the same role in the combined unit. He hired JB Perrette (who played a role on Discovery) to oversee broadcasting, and senior unwritten programming manager Kathleen Finch will oversee all line networks. Toby Emerich, Casey Blues and Channing Dunge, Warner Bros., respectively. Pictures, HBO, and Warner Bros. The TV holds its place. Bruce Campbell, distribution manager of Discovery (a key feature of which is multibillion-dollar shipping costs and complex streaming deals), has been given a similar role at the new company.
Raising Finch, senior and former network news producer at Scripps Networks Interactive, who joined Discovery after the company acquired Scripps in 2018, was highly anticipated. At Discovery, he was at the top of a long list of unscripted and reality directors who are likely to have a significant impact on the new unit.
Deadline was reported a month ago that Discovery’s senior think tank will be filling the ranks of the new company’s senior management, and that comes as no surprise in today’s official announcement. Many of Zaslav’s senior staff, including Peret, also worked with him on NBC.
Appointments were made earlier this week for several senior WarnerMedia CEOs, including CEO Jason Killard, editor-in-chief Andy Forsell, and Ann Sarnoff, head of studios and networks. While the idea of a Kilar equivalent in the new build has long been abandoned, there are questions as to whether the new CEO will play a role similar to that of Sarnoff, who cares for both film and TV studios. Zaslav stated that he would be an intern, although he had never been warned about such a large amount of real estate in the writing field.
AT&T, which bought Time Warner for $85 billion in 2018 and changed its name to WarnerMedia, decided to leave the entertainment industry after just three years. In May 2021, AT&T CEO John Stenky and Zaslav shocked the industry by revealing the combination their collusion offered.
Cost savings are the dominant factor in all determinations of a new company’s management structure. Discovery has pledged to save $3 billion from the new unit and is threatening to pressure Wall Street to reduce its debt burden, which will be tens of billions.
Source: Deadline
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