Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Tuesday, October 24th, 2023
It's not easy being Warner Bros. Discovery
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, October 24th, 2023.
A QUICK STRIKE NEGOTIATION UPDATE
Today's renewed negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP ended apparently without much movement. But the two sides have agreed to meet again soon and that at least is a positive.
As I write this, I continue to hear from people on both sides laying out their unique version of events. But based on the scanty news I've heard so far, the new proposal from AMPTP regarding increased compensation for actors was quickly rejected by the union. So now it sounds as if they have to keep working to find some compensation framework they can agree on. The studios seem to be aware actors need a substantial boost in pay. The concern of CEOs such as Netflix's Ted Sarandos and Disney's Bob Iger is that the compensation comes in the form of some sort of increased residual-like payment. Not a new payment stream that would markedly change the landscape for the companies moving forward.
IT'S NOT EASY BEING WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY
Warner Bros. Discovery is set to release its third-quarter 2023 results on Wednesday, November 8th, 2023, before the market opens. And I think it's fair to say that it is a fraught period for the company.
Shares of the company have lost more than 20% of their value in the past six months. And the numbers are even grimmer if you examine the performance of the stock since the combined Discovery Communications/Warner Media shares began trading on the Nasdaq on April 11th, 2022. A $10,000 investment in WBD shares placed on that day would now be worth just over $4,000.
By any measure, this is a dismal performance, even in a period where media stocks in general have lagged. Led by David Zaslav, the company has attempted to downsize away the worst of its problems, slashing overhead and removing programming from its streaming service. The company has pulled back on some of its international ambitions and reorganized divisions as executives work to pay down some of the billions of dollars in debt incurred as a result of the merger.
But for all of that work, Warner Bros. Discovery feels like a reduced company. Not just size-wise, although it certainly is smaller than it was a year ago. When you talk to people inside the company, there's often this feeling that while Zaslav's aggressive cost-cutting might help lower the company's debt, it comes at a cost to the psyche of the Warner Brothers brand. For several decades, Warner Brothers had stumbled through crisis after crisis, trading one bad owner for a progressively worse one. And this latest merger seems to have finally taken the wind of the company's most passionate internal supporters.
One executive I spoke with today who has had a long relationship with the company said the merger with Discovery hasn't just turned out to be bad for the bottom line. It's been bad for morale in a company that in recent years felt as if the dream of what used to be was the only thing holding everything together.
"There's nothing more disheartening to be on a call listening to executives talk about the business in a way that brings home the fact that they've learned enough of the industry lingo to sound as if they have a grasp on what we need to do to thrive," I was told. "But then you realize they have no fucking clue about what they don't know. It's like those scenes of Robin Williams in Mork & Mindy where he's using familiar phrases in the wrong way. It's maddening and depressing."
One example of ineptness that has been frequently cited by WBD employees I've spoken to in the past few months was the clumsy roll-out of the streaming service Max.
As I have previously written about in this newsletter, from before the merger of the two companies, David Zaslav has been pushing the idea of combining then HBO Max with Discovery+ into one super-streamer. He was convinced the breadth of those two catalogs - along with live feeds and sports similar to Discovery's streaming service in Europe - would be a winner in the U.S. market. And a template for a new version of streaming the company could roll out internationally.
But it quickly became clear that at least here in the U.S., there were plenty of people subscribing to the unscripted/reality TV streamer Discovery+ who were just fine not having access to the latest episodes of Succession or Last Week With John Oliver. So not long after the merger took place, Zaslav announced the company had decided not to combine the two services, arguing WBD was "dedicated to providing our customer with choices." Which was certainly an impressive bit of spinning.
That doesn't mean that he and other Warner Bros. Discovery executives are willing to let the status quo continue long-term. A large number of unscripted linear TV shows from the various Discovery networks now appear both on Discovery+ as well as Max. There has been a cutback on Discovery+ originals and a subtle winnowing of older titles from Discovery+. Those changes - along with a recent rate hike that seems structured to move subscribers to Max - have resulted in a mixed bag of subscriber behavior.
On the upside, company insiders report the attempted integration of Discovery+ content into Max has increased engagement and time spent on the app. But it has also muddied the Max brand, particularly during a time when a prolonged Hollywood strike has shut off the pipeline of new scripted originals. And some of the user behavior studies have shown a real disconnect between the former HBO Max and Discovery+ audiences. The strike-impacted release schedule has led to a greater reliance on unscripted programming from the former Discovery Communications linear channels, which leads to an unsatisfactory experience for some longtime subscribers who joined in large part for the HBO programming. User studies have reported some subscribers have felt the unscripted shows are being "forced" on them in content promo windows and navigation bars.
And the data also seems to indicate that a not small number of former Discovery+ subscribers are unhappy with some of what Max has to offer. The effort to integrate CNN into Max has met with some resistance from former Discovery+ subscribers, who consider the cable news network to be anywhere from annoying to Leftist propaganda. That has led to some internal discussions about how much the programming should be promoted on the home page and other key navigation spots.
And while the company purposely doesn't break out subscriber numbers for each service, insiders tell me that Discovery+ subscribers have been stubbornly resistant to shifting to Max. Sources tell me that there are ongoing conversations internally about how best to change the trajectory of the problem. One solution would be to just shut down Discovery+ and take the inevitable short-term subscriber loss. But that would lead to several quarters of slumping overall subscriber numbers for the company. Which has some potentially dire financial implications for a media company whose stock is already sagging back toward its 52-week low.
All of this is complicated by anger from some employees I've spoken with about a frequent refrain about the business coming from CEO David Zaslav. "He can't get through an interview or speech without mentioning that the industry's streamers need to bundle or consolidate to cut churn," one top executive complained to me recently in an email. "It sounds desperate. And honest to God, my first reaction is always, Dude, you run one of the biggest media companies in the world. If you think your problems are because we're not big enough, you're doing it wrong."
It now appears the company is preparing for an underwhelming fall and spring by doing the only thing it seems capable of doing right now - continuing to shed overhead. So it's not surprising to learn that additional rounds of lay-offs appear to be taking place at the company.
I've been told by several sources that an unknown number of people have received layoff notices in recent weeks. It's not clear the scope of the layoffs, although it appears to be somewhere between 50 and 60 in various marketing roles, as well as another round of layoffs internationally that appear to be connected in part to the implementation of a new reorganization plan.
I've also heard this afternoon from several people in other departments who have been told their job was being eliminated, but that they would be employed through the middle or end of November. Some of the jobs don't seem to be part of a general departmental cutback. It feels as if managers might have been tasked with cutting some percentage of overhead, leading to cutbacks that seem somewhat random from the outside.
Overall, the layoffs seem to be in the range of at least 100 company-wide, although the number is likely higher. Some of the people who reported being laid off were reportedly advised by managers to not publicly discuss their exit ahead of time, leading them to believe that the request was made in an effort to lessen any bad publicity for the company ahead of the November 8th Q3 results.
One WBD executive I spoke with on background this afternoon told me they weren't aware of the specifics of the layoffs, but attributed any loss of jobs to "normal business cycles."
I have reached out to the company for an official comment, but so far have not received a response.
ODDS AND SODS
* The CW has picked up a second season of the comedy Everybody Else Burns. Season one of the series premieres this Thursday.
* Richard Roundtree died Tuesday afternoon after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81.
* A new season of Mystery At Blind Frog Ranch premieres Wednesday, November 15th on Discovery.
WHAT'S NEW TODAY AND TOMORROW:
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24TH:
* Get Gotti (Netflix)
* Help! I'm In A Secret Relationship! Season Premiere (MTV)
* Hot Potato: The Story Of The Wiggles (Prime Video)
* Krishnas: Gurus. Karma. Murder. (Peacock)
* Milli Vanilli (Paramount+)
* Native America (PBS)
* Pete Holmes: I Am Not For Everyone (Netflix)
* Restoration Road With Clint Harp Season Premiere (Magnolia)
* The Priest From Hell (Viaplay)
* Winter House Season Premiere (Bravo)
* Zainab Johnson: Hijabs Off (Prime Video)
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25TH:
* Absolute Beginners Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Burning Betrayal (Netflix)
* Crime Scene Confidential Season Two Finale (Investigation Discovery)
* Emeril Cooks Season Premiere (The Roku Channel)
* Life On Our Planet (Netflix)
* Pawn Stars Do America Season Premiere (History)
* The After (Netflix)
* The Challenge: Battle For A New Champion (MTV)
* The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills Season Premiere (Bravo)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU FRIDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.