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Posted in: HBO, Opinion, Preview, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: HBO, hbo max, the nevers, warner bros discovery, westworld
Ever since Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav took over, the company has been on a hack-n-slash mission to find billions in savings. And with the clock ticking on next year’s HBO Max & Discovery+ merger, the cuts have been wide and deep. And while we’ve seen shows such as The Nevers, Westworld, Minx, and others not only canceled but confirmed to be pulled from HBO Max this week, those are only a few of the series, films, and specials (especially in animation) that have felt the hatchet. And now, thanks to a securities filing earlier today, we’re learning the results of those cuts so far- and it looks like WBD has positioned itself for a pretty sizeable write-off. In fact, today’s filing shows that WBD will be taking content & development write-offs and impairments to the tune of $2.8B-$3.5B. This comes only two months after the company filed an initial projection of $2B-$2.5B (also including an additional charge of $800M-$1B). As of today’s filings, WBD’s total restructuring & impairment charges related to the merger are now set at between $4.1 billion-$5.3 billion. Moving forward, the company is still eyeing the end of 2024 as the target date for wrapping up its restructuring plans (though between now and then, WBD noted in its filing that continued restructuring “could result in additional impairments above the revised estimates.”
Now, here’s where it gets really interesting in The Hollywood Reporter article. Apparently, WBD is looking to bundle a number of HBO & HBO Max shows (for example, Westworld, The Nevers) into a package that’s marketed to free, ad-supported third-party streaming services. Meanwhile, a “number of other shows” will be removed from HBO Max, with WBD “speaking with the studio partners about opportunities to further expand the reach of the shows [like Love Life and Minx], including but not limited to licensing the series to third-party FAST platforms.” Basically, what are the biggest takeaways from THR’s report? First, those cuts are going to keep coming for about another year, and removing shows from HBO Max appears to be a priority. Second, Zaslav is approaching WBD more as a studio than as a multimedia company that should be producing its own content.
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