The bad Warner Bros. Discovery news keeps on coming ahead of the studio’s first quarterly earnings call tomorrow.
Multiple insiders tell The Wrap they expect CEO David Zaslav will announce a major restructuring of HBO Max and Discovery+ during its results call or soon after.
The move will reportedly result in a gutting of HBO Max, with significant layoffs for its executives and staff. A company insider tells the outlet: “Sounds like they’re not doing HBO Max scripted shows anymore with HBO taking over, so less scripted shows overall.”
One victim has been claimed today with Deadline reporting that the animated series “Little Ellen” has been cancelled. Production on that show’s third season was complete, but those episodes will be shelved (likely for a tax write-off).
What this means for existing series on the streamer isn’t clear. HBO content chief Casey Bloys will allegedly take a more senior role as the two streaming platforms are combined, and a harder line separation is drawn between scripted and unscripted content operations.
HBO Max’s development department, in particular, is expected to be especially hard hit with layoffs with staff cuts as high as 70%.
One thing that is certain is that tomorrow’s earnings call has become a major event, with plenty of people across the industry going to be waiting on Zaslav’s every word.
