In the end, Casey Bloys knew he was holding all the cards.
As the industry continued to speculate about whether the HBO boss or Paramount’s Cindy Holland would wind up with control of the two companies’ soon-to-be-merged streaming behemoth, in recent weeks the momentum seemed to be on Bloys’ side.
So when Paramount direct-to-consumer chair Holland told colleagues Tuesday that she would be leaving, her staff at the company was disappointed — having seen firsthand the exec’s tremendous impact inside the company over the past year — but not surprised.
The uncertainty of a deal, which at that point was still facing a lawsuit from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state AGs, was having a negative impact on business, and it needed to be resolved, Bloys said. But his pro-deal sentiment was a bit of a break from the hope inside other Warner Bros. segments that the merger might not happen.
Even so, it seemed very unlikely that the new company could launch with both Bloys and Holland still in charge of their respective domains. Not only would that pit the two streamers against each other internally, but a bake-off would cause huge internal distractions at a time when the company needs to focus on integrating operations. “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,” said one insider.
Ellison is said to be a boss who is loyal to his underlings, particularly with his own hires. And that’s why there might have been a world where Holland remained in some capacity. But others noted that Holland — who spent 16 years at Netflix as the architect of its original content strategy before a brief stint at Sister and then being wooed by Ellison — didn’t need a job she didn’t want. Said one agent: Ellison “wanted to try to make it work with everyone, and he couldn’t.”
After Bonta last week struck the controversial settlement between 12 states and Paramount Skydance that paved a path for the merger, the general consensus around town was that JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO/president of global streaming and games, was destined for a big job at the new company, and that Bloys wouldn’t be going anywhere. (The judge overseeing the state AGs’ case has yet to rule on the settlement.)
“He’s played his hand brilliantly,” one insider said of Bloys, even before Holland’s exit was announced. “It seems like he’s very happy, and JB too. It’s like they both have some feeling of confidence. I could see it in JB, his whole demeanor has changed, more relaxed and confident.”
Meanwhile, Holland’s immediate exit has caused a scramble inside Paramount+, which remains a lean operation to begin with. A crew obviously needs to remain in place to keep the streamer operational, but it’s now unclear what this means to the staff once Bloys takes over. Because the deal hasn’t yet closed, Bloys’ oversight might not be announced until next week, which keeps things in a bit of a limbo until then.
This will greatly increase Bloys’ programming domain, starting with the Taylor Sheridan universe: “Dutton Ranch,” “Landman,” “Tulsa King,” “Lioness” and more. There’s also an upcoming fifth and final season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” Season 2 of “Dexter: Resurrection” (which returns Oct. 30) and crime drama “MobLand,” which was recently renewed for a Season 3.
Now, the new questions emerge: How will Bloys program Paramount+ vs. HBO Max, and is there crossover in what is developed and ordered while the two streamers remain separate?
“I think ‘Landman’ is something that could easily be on the periphery of HBO,” said one insider. And indeed, under Bloys, soon those Paramount+ shows and HBO series will be a part of one big family.
