HBO’s Casey Bloys to Lead Paramount-WB Streaming Strategy
Casey Bloys will oversee streaming for the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery company, per Variety. The HBO chief made clear during merger negotiations that he would only accept a role reporting directly to Paramount CEO David Ellison and overseeing all direct-to-consumer operations—a position that has now been confirmed.
Cindy Holland, who led Paramount+ and Pluto TV, stepped down on Tuesday, her final day with the company. Holland, a Netflix and Sister veteran recruited as an advisor in January 2025, delivered significant results: Paramount+ reached an all-time subscriber high of 81 million globally in Q2, achieved the streamer’s best retention ever, and drove double-digit growth in engagement and revenue.
Why Bloys Won Out
Merging two major streamers required choosing between two respected leaders. Ellison prioritized HBO stability and Bloys’s expertise. “If I’m David Ellison, I need Casey Bloys. I need HBO, and I can’t afford to lose him almost more than Cindy,” one insider told Variety.
Bloys made his position clear in July when asked whether he would report to anyone other than Ellison: “I think you probably know the answer to that.” A structure where Bloys ran HBO and Holland ran Paramount+—similar to how John Landgraf oversees FX at Disney—was rejected as impractical. Having two leaders would create internal competition and distract from critical integration work.
“If you’re going to do this, you should have one person guiding the strategy, and that means you’re not having any confusion with who’s being pitched and where shows are going,” an insider told Variety.
What Bloys Now Oversees
Bloys’s expanded domain includes Taylor Sheridan’s universe: “Dutton Ranch” (the platform’s biggest original series debut), “Landman” (the streamer’s most-watched series), “Tulsa King,” and “Lioness.” He also oversees the final season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” Season 2 of “Dexter: Resurrection” (returning Oct. 30), and “MobLand,” recently renewed for Season 3.
The Path Forward
Ellison has said the plan is to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform with over 200 million subscribers, though no timeline has been announced. Bloys now controls the creative strategy for both services as they move toward integration, positioning him as one of the most powerful executives in streaming.
Holland’s departure ends her tenure running the direct-to-consumer operations. In a memo to staff, she noted that under her leadership Paramount greenlit more than 40 new and returning series, secured UFC and Zuffa Boxing deals, and expanded sports rights. “Cindy is one of the most exceptional executives in our industry—a force of nature whose impact on Paramount over the past year has been significant,” Ellison said in a statement.
Reporting from Variety, Deadline and TheWrap contributed to this story.