Skydance is putting all three of its TV studios under one boss. George Cheeks, the current chair of TV media at Paramount, will oversee CBS Studios, Warner Bros. Television and Paramount Television Studios once the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal closes on Oct. 6. Cheeks currently runs CBS Studios and all linear Paramount brands as chair of TV media, overseeing CBS entertainment, sports and news, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET.
Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks, and PTVS President Matt Thunell will both report to Cheeks instead of directly to Paramount CEO David Ellison.
Who Reports to Cheeks Now
Cheeks’ current portfolio already includes all linear Paramount brands: CBS entertainment, sports and news, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET. He also oversees cable brands on the WBD side, per the settlement with the 12 state attorneys general.
His role expands post-merger to cover the three TV studios. The move keeps the number of direct reports to Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz on par with what existed at Paramount Skydance. That list includes HBO’s Casey Bloys, who replaces Cindy Holland, and Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, who will run the movie studios.
Why This Makes Sense
The consolidation follows Disney’s playbook. It took Disney six years after acquiring Fox assets to fully merge its three TV studios: 20th Television, ABC Signature and Touchstone Television. That was done in two stages.
CBS Studios has the clearest lane of the three. It is the primary supplier to CBS, home to Star Trek and an opportunistic third-party seller. Warner Bros. Television and PTVS overlap more. Both mine IP from their sister film studios and supply their sibling streamers, HBO Max and Paramount+.
What Changed at WBTV
Warner Bros. Television has pulled back from broadcast development over the past couple of years. Broadcast networks increasingly stay in-house, which helps the economics but shuts out third-party suppliers. Recent highlights include the Emmy-winning The Pitt, the return of Ted Lasso and the breakout debuts of Rooster and Stuart Fails To Save the Universe, both renewed for Season 2.
The Open Question
It is unclear whether WBTV’s shift toward broadcast changes now that it is vertically integrated with a network, CBS, for the first time. CBS Studios is dialed in on the CBS brand, producing NCIS and Fire Country, Matlock and Ghosts for the network, as well as Little House In the Prairie for Netflix.
Thunell rebuilt PTVS last fall by merging Skydance Television with Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, Nickelodeon live-action and Awesomeness into the new studio. The company produces the entire Taylor Sheridan slate for Paramount+ and recently renewed both Reacher and its spinoff Negaley.
Cheeks’ Track Record
Cheeks is known for creative involvement in the brands he runs. He identified the franchise potential of CBS’ Fire Country, and his TV studio experience includes a stint as vice chairman of NBCUniversal Content Studios.
“Paramount and Warner Brothers are required to continue negotiating their cable packages separately.”
The move keeps the management structure consistent across film, TV and streaming. That matters for a combined company with three TV studios, two streamers and a sprawling broadcast portfolio. It also positions the studios for future consolidation, though Disney’s six-year timeline suggests that path takes time.
The structure is a practical fix for an overlapping problem. WBTV and PTVS both served their sibling streamers while competing in the open streaming market. Now one executive oversees all three, and the existing studio leaders stay in place.
Whether the broadcast shift changes course remains open. The deal closes on Oct. 6, and the structure will be tested soon after.
Source material: “Skydance Putting All 3 TV Studios Under George Cheeks: Warner Bros. TV, CBS Studios, PTVS – The Dish,” Deadline.
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