Skydance puts all 3 TV studios under George Cheeks

Other elements of Skydance’s proposed executive structure after the WBD merger will be highlighted before the Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery deal closes on Tuesday.

As Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg move to oversee Skydance, Warner Bros. and Paramount’s film studios, another senior executive on Paramount CEO David Ellison’s team, television media president George Cheeks would do the same with the combined company’s three television studios, sources said. (This is also done via streaming, with HBO’s Casey Bloys in line to run the HBO Max and Paramount+ combo.)

As part of his current portfolio, Cheeks oversees CBS Studios, which he has done since joining ViacomCBS in 2020, reporting to CBS Studios President David Stapf. I hear he will now oversee Warner Bros. Television and Paramount Television Studios, with Channing Dungey, currently chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks, and PTVS president Matt Thunell both remaining under him.

This is part of an expansion of Cheeks’ role post-merger, which would also include some sort of oversight of cable brands on the WBD side. (Per the agreement with the 12 state attorneys general, “Paramount and Warner Brothers are required to continue to negotiate their cable packages separately.”) In his current role, Cheeks oversees all of Paramount’s linear networks, including CBS (entertainment, sports and news), MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET.

Consolidation makes sense. For example, Thunell, highly regarded by Ellison for their collaboration at Skydance, currently reports to Goldberg who, alongside Greenstein, will have his hands full running both film studios.

There has been speculation that Dungey, given the size and output of Warner Bros TV and her stature as a senior television executive with industry influence and connections, could report directly to the combined company’s CEOs, as she currently does at WBD.

The move would keep the number of direct reports to Ellison (and now co-CEO Ynon Kreiz) in film, television and streaming on par with what they were at Paramount Skydance, with Bloys (replacing Cindy Holland, who just resigned), Goldberg & Greenstein and Cheeks.

The consolidation would also position the three television studios for future consolidation. It took Disney six years after acquiring Fox’s assets to completely merge the company’s three television studios – 20th Television, ABC Signature and Touchstone Television – in two stages.

CBS Studios has the most clearly defined path of the three studios as CBS’ primary supplier (and home to Star Trek and an opportunistic third-party seller).

As it stands, there is some overlap between Warner Bros Television and PTVS.

They have each been responsible for exploiting the intellectual property of their sister movie studios (which explains Goldberg’s oversight of PTVS) and have been the primary suppliers to their sister streamers HBO Max and Paramount+, respectively. Their common playground is the open streaming market, as both actively sell outside and have successes on multiple platforms.

Over the past two years, Warner Bros. Television, historically the largest independent television studio producing Friends, emergencies And The Big Bang Theorypulled out of development for broadcast where it still has hit shows on ABC Abbott Elementary School and CBS’ Big Bang spin-off Georgie and Mandy’s first marriage and Fox’s second drama Memory of a killer. This is because networks remain increasingly in-house, which helps improve the economics of broadcasting but essentially excludes third-party providers.

It’s unclear whether that would change now that WBTV would be vertically integrated into a broadcast network, CBS, for the first time, but CBS Studios is quite attentive to the CBS brand and its needs, producing the NCIS And Land of Fire franchises, Matlock And Specters for the network, as well as Little House on the Prairie for Netflix.

WBTV’s recent highlights include the continued success of The Pittwhich just won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, The Return of Ted Lasso, and the small group debut of Rooster And Big Bang spin-off Stuart fails to save the universewhich have been renewed for season 2. The studio is about to make a buzz Harry Potter series.

Thunell Frankenstein led PTVS last fall when he was tasked with integrating Skydance Television and all of Paramount’s cable production units, including Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, Nickelodeon live-action and Awesomeness, into the new studio. The company, which produces Taylor Sheridan’s entire A-list for Paramount+, just renewed its flagship drama. Reach and its fallout Négaley.

Although he comes from a legal and business background, Cheeks is known for his creative involvement in the brands he oversees. (He is credited with identifying CBS’ franchise potential. Land of Firefor example.) In addition to being in charge of CBS Studios for the past six years, Cheeks’ television studio experience includes a stint as vice president of NBCUniversal Content Studios.