Skydance Putting All 3 TV Studios Under George Cheeks: Warner Bros. TV, CBS Studios, PTVS – The Dish

More elements of the proposed post-WBD merger Skydance‘s executive structure are coming into focus ahead of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery transaction closing on Oct. 6. As Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg are poised to oversee Skydance’s movie studios, Warner Bros. and Paramount, another senior executive on Paramount CEO David Ellison’s team, Chair of TV Media George Cheeks, would be doing the same with the combined company’s three TV studios, sources said. (The same is being done in streaming, with HBO’s Casey Bloys in line to run the combo of HBO Max and Paramount+.) As part of his current portfolio, Cheeks oversees CBS Studios, something he has done since joining then-ViacomCBS in 2020, with CBS Studios President David Stapf reporting to him. I hear he will now add oversight of Warner Bros. Television and Paramount Television Studios, with Channing Dungey, currently Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks, and PTVS President Matt Thunell both staying on and reporting to him. Watch on Deadline It is part of a role expansion for Cheeks post-merger, which is said to also include some sort of oversight of cable brands on the WBD side. (According to the settlement with the 12 state attorneys general, “Paramount and Warner Brothers are required to continue negotiating their cable packages separately.”) In his current post, Cheeks oversees all linear Paramount brands, including CBS (entertainment, sports and news), MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET. The consolidation makes sense. For instance, Thunell, said to be well-liked by Ellison from their tenure together at Skydance, currently reports to Goldberg who, alongside Greenstein, will have their hands full running both movie studios. There had been some speculation that Dungey, given the size and output of Warner Bros. TV and her stature as a top TV executive with clout and connections in the industry, may report directly to the CEOs of the combined company as she does now at WBD. Noah Wyle in ‘The Pitt’ HBOMAX The move would keep the number of direct reports to Ellison (and now co-CEO Ynon Kreiz) across film, TV and streaming on par with what they were at Paramount Skydance, with Bloys (replacing Cindy Holland, who just stepped down), Goldberg & Greenstein and Cheeks. The combination also would position the three TV studios for future consolidation. It took Disney six years after the acquisition of Fox assets to fully merge the company’s three TV studios, 20th Television, ABC Signature and Touchstone Television, which was done in two stages. CBS Studios has the most clearly defined lane of the three studios as the primary supplier to CBS (as well as home of Star Trek and an opportunistic third-party seller). As things currently sit, there is some overlap between Warner Bros. Television and PTVS. They each have been tasked with mining the IP of their sister film studios (which explained Goldberg’s oversight of PTVS) and have been main suppliers to their sibling streamers, HBO Max and Paramount+, respectively. Their common playing area is the open streaming market, as both are actively selling outside and have hits on multiple platforms. ‘Abbott Elementary’ Disney / Sami Drasin Over the past couple of years, Warner Bros. Television, historically the largest independent TV studio that produced Friends, ER and The Big Bang Theory, has pulled away from developing for broadcast where it still has hit shows in ABC’s Abbott Elementary and CBS’ Big Bang spinoff Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage and Fox’s sophomore drama Memory of a Killer. That is because broadcast networks increasingly stay in-house, which helps making the economics of broadcast work but essentially shuts out third-party suppliers. It is unclear whether that would change now that WBTV would be vertically integrated with a broadcast network, CBS, for the first time, but CBS Studios is pretty dialed in on the CBS brand and its needs, producing the NCIS and Fire Country franchises, Matlock and Ghosts for the network, as well as Little House In the Prairie for Netflix. Recent WBTV highlights include the continuous success of The Pitt, which just repeated as Outstanding Drama Series Emmy winner, the return of Ted Lasso, and the breakout debuts of Rooster and Big Bang spinoff Stuart Fails To Save the Universe, which have been renewed for Season 2. Thunell Frankenstein-ed PTVS last fall when he was tasked with integrating together Skydance Television and all cable production units of Paramount, including Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, Nickelodeon live-action, and Awesomeness, into the new studio. The company, which produces the entire Taylor Sheridan slate for Paramount+, just scored renewals for both its flagship drama Reacher and its spinoff Negaley. Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher Jasper Savage/Prime Video While he comes from a legal/business background, Cheeks is known for his creative involvement in the brands he oversees. (He is credited with identifying the franchise potential of CBS’ Fire Country, for example). In addition to being in charge of CBS Studios for the past six years, Cheeks’ TV studio experience also includes a stint as Vice Chairman, NBCUniversal Content Studios.