All three Skydance TV studios will soon answer to one executive: George Cheeks, Paramount’s chair of TV Media, Deadline reported. Cheeks will add Warner Bros. Television and Paramount Television Studios to CBS Studios, which he already oversees, just days before the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger is expected to close Oct. 6.
In this story
Who will report to George Cheeks
Cheeks has led CBS-related businesses since he joined Paramount in March 2020. CBS Studios President David Stapf already reports to him. Under the new setup, Channing Dungey, chair and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group, and Matt Thunell, president of Paramount Television Studios, will keep their jobs but report to Cheeks, according to Deadline and TheWrap.
Cheeks also runs the company’s networks and cable brands, including CBS, BET, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, TheWrap reported.
Why the Skydance TV studios were combined under one leader
Deadline noted that Thunell currently reports to Dana Goldberg, who will run the combined movie studios with Josh Greenstein and will have little time left to manage a TV operation. Putting all three studios under Cheeks also keeps the executive structure similar to what existed before the merger: Casey Bloys leads the combined HBO Max and Paramount+ streaming business, Greenstein and Goldberg oversee the film studios, and Cheeks leads television. Read more about that film leadership in our report on Greenstein and Goldberg running the combined movie studios.
Deadline also reported that Cheeks’ expanded role is expected to include some oversight of cable brands from the Warner Bros. Discovery side. A settlement with 12 state attorneys general, however, requires Paramount to negotiate basic cable distribution deals separately for five years, according to Fast Company.
What the studios make
The three studios bring a deep catalog. CBS Studios produces shows such as NCIS, Fire Country, Matlock and Ghosts. Warner Bros. Television is behind The Pitt and Ted Lasso, TheWrap reported. For now, CBS Studios has the clearest role as the main supplier to CBS, while Warner Bros. Television and Paramount Television Studios have some overlap in their output, according to Deadline.
What the state settlement requires
The consent decree that cleared the way for the merger carries commitments that affect the combined company’s production plans. According to Fast Company, Paramount must raise U.S. film production spending by at least $1.5 billion over five years and release 30 films a year for two years, then 32 a year for three more. It must also negotiate basic cable channel deals separately for five years and set up a News Editorial Independence Board to monitor CBS and CNN within 180 days.
Those terms mostly concern film and news, but they shape the environment Cheeks will work in as he takes charge of the Skydance TV studios and their cable ties. Most of the commitments last five years, so they will frame the job for some time.
Merger status and what’s next
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved Paramount’s settlement with 12 states, clearing the way for the deal to close Oct. 6, Fast Company reported. The deal is valued at about $81 billion, or roughly $111 billion including debt.
David Ellison does not gain operational control of Warner Bros. Discovery until the deal closes, so the final TV leadership structure is expected to be settled after that. Separately, Warner Bros. film chiefs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca are leaving the studio, as we covered in our De Luca and Abdy exit report.
