WB Animation and Cartoon Network Studios merge; will remain as seperate labels

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

I never said they didn't.


I like Craig of the Creek, but is it really that big a hit? I don't hear many people talking about like that. The fact is CN hasn't had a breakout hit in a while outside of Teen Titans Go!. Anyways, I don't recall ever saying the move was justified; I didn't mention CotC at all, actually. I just finished dinner, so kindly don't put words in my mouth.


Again, I'm not arguing that point. Their methods of just doing whatever they choose to at any given moment without so much as informing people of their plans is really crappy and unprofessional; again, never said it wasn't.

"My precious"? So I'm Gollum now?

It's weird; I re-read my previous post a few times now, and I didn't spot where I said that Zaslav should be credited for that, or anything else for that matter. I just said it happened and we should be grateful for it.

But I forgot, everyone here has to think of Zaslav as Satan or else he's our Bestie. That's it. Period. There's no neutral ground, nothing in between, no shades of gray. I've stated multiple times now that I don't approve of his recent actions, that I stand firmly with the artists and creators and that I'm not a big reality TV fan, but just because I don't want the man's head on a pike in your mind that means I must be in love with the guy. Got it. Nothing simplistic or childish about that mindset at all.

You want to super-angry about all this, go ahead, be my guest, have fun with that, but don't take your frustrations out on me or anyone else here. I didn't put David Zaslav in charge of Warner Bros. Furthermore I'm not the only one who's not screaming that the sky is falling or saying that all of this gloom-and-doom talk is a) overblown and b) being at least partially fabricated by YouTubers and media articles in order to generate clicks and clout, so again, why are you singling me out? Am I somehow not allowed to be cautiously optimistic? Am I only supposed to be miserable? Sorry, but I've done miserable, I prefer the opposite, thanks.

You'd think people would at least be happy that Cartoon Network isn't shutting down and that we're still getting new shows for it, but I guess not. Forgive me for trying to see a slight silver lining here. (And again, I'm not the only one here doing so; why not rag on them once in a while?) BTW, little secret: CN US wasn't doing all that spectacularly before all this. Or am I not supposed to say that either?

Do people want CN to fail?? Like Gosh it's pretty sad to see the coverage of this since August.

 

[JMTV]

It's been a mess since that was the AT&T purchase era and that was dragged out for about a year, then a judge allowed AT&T to buy Warner that was by 2018, and then they had to set in motions new plans then pandemic hits, then AT&T gives up and another sale happens, been hard for CN to do really do anything.


AT&T was laying off people left and right too. they killed off Tru TV and everyone who worked there was laid off, they were dismantling TBS and TNT's structures.

Like I said in the other thread. It's so easy to scapegoat Zaslav over everything that he has done, but it's AT&T's own fault for damaged WB in the first place. It just that Zaslav have to play damage control.

I admit I was one of those people who allowed themselves to get really upset over this (as recently as this past Monday, to be exact!), but now I can see a lot of my angst had to do with constant doom-scrolling and the increasing amount of articles and videos stating that WBA and Cartoon Network were doomed and Zaslav was the devil out to destroy cartoons, diversity and goodness all over the world.

Now I see that the truth of the matter is that while his actions have indeed been rash and he clearly has no appreciation for fine art (he seems to view all forms of entertainment in the same vein as the cheap single camera shlock that he's used to making possible), in the long run, this could turn out to be a good thing for WB and CN. Zaslav is easy to dislike, but when all is said and done, he's trying to balance the books and clean up the mess that AT&T left behind, AT&T screwed Warner up and over big time.

Cartoon Network has been stagnant for a while, and for a long time one of Warner's biggest problems is that they were a fleet of ships all sailing independently with no captain at the helm giving them direction. With CN Studios and WBA now under one roof, WB may finally have some semblance of unity that can prevent a boondoggle like this from happening again, and if this actually manages to breathe new life into Cartoon Network and revitalize its' programming as well as WB's features, which have also been lagging, well that's a good thing, folks.

I'm not gonna be optimistic about Zaslav's tenure, but even I'll admit that the constant doom-scrolling is really unhealthy for me.

CN Studios and WB Animation merging together is not a bad thing. It's actually is a good thing for both studios so that their productions feels alot more connected, smoother, and unified. At least the brand names are still there, similar to New Line Cinema and Hanna Barbara, but under WB's control.

I personally wouldn't put a pass on a guy who has been known for greenlighting terrible reality shows, give a crap about children's programming when he bought WB all of a sudden. If he care about kids programming, then The Hub would've lasted much longer or Discovery Kids would've put in much better care, but I digress.

My main point is that I'm still skeptical on Zaslav's tenure and on what he's going to do with CN going forward, but I'm not gonna be one of those fear-moron-ganers treating as Cartoon Network being "shut down" as a childhood ruining (or some cases, clickbait people for cash and clout). People like that needs to go.

Oh, and here's my last point. I heard that some people on here say that Cartoon Network didn't have any massive hit since Adventure Time, and you're not wrong about that.

I noticed that since 2016, ever since their Renaissance shows had ended(year by year), Cartoon Network hasn't made any hit shows in awhile (outside of TTG). Sure, we got Craig of the Creek, but was it a major phenomenon compared to Adventure Time and OG Powerpuff Girls? Not really. Yeah, Craig was a hit, but it wasn't that big of a hit.

I think the most contributing factor that ever since Stuart Snyder left in 2014, there were a lot of programming changes and management changes taking place. Multiple companies are trying to take CN many different directions, but they have no idea on what to do with it, nor they give them any opportunity and exposure. But once we FINALLY got a new direction thanks to Tom Aschiem, it got squandered very quickly.

Now that Zaslav took over Warner Bros, it did left CN on a very uncertainty state. Slicing and dicing a whole bunch of content for HBO Max, laying off a bunch of people, and revamping studios. Understandably, it left a lot of people concerned and confused, myself included. However, the more I think about it, Zaslav is a part of a much larger problem with CN over the years. Lack of major leadership role since Snyder left and bad management with AT&T. That, and also the competition has been pumping out hits leading to become relevant in the streaming age.

To wrap it all off because I don't want repeat myself. What's gonna happen to Cartoon Network under Zaslav, Kathleen Finch, Sam Register, and Michael Owlueleen will remained to be seen. I'm still skeptical about this, but I'm not gonna be a doom-talker as other people do. Let's just hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

So that's my two cents.

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

Like I said in the other thread. It's so easy to scapegoat Zaslav over everything that he has done, but it's AT&T's own fault for damaged WB in the first place. It just that Zaslav have to play damage control.

I'm not gonna be optimistic about Zaslav's tenure, but even I'll admit that the constant doom-scrolling is really unhealthy for me.

CN Studios and WB Animation merging together is not a bad thing. It's actually is a good thing for both studios so that their productions feels alot more connected, smoother, and unified. At least the brand names are still there, similar to New Line Cinema and Hanna Barbara, but under WB's control.

I personally wouldn't put a pass on a guy who has been known for greenlighting terrible reality shows, give a crap about children's programming when he bought WB all of a sudden. If he care about kids programming, then The Hub would've lasted much longer or Discovery Kids would've put in much better care, but I digress.

My main point is that I'm still skeptical on Zaslav's tenure and on what he's going to do with CN going forward, but I'm not gonna be one of those fear-moron-ganers treating as Cartoon Network being "shut down" as a childhood ruining (or some cases, clickbait people for cash and clout). People like that needs to go.

Oh, and here's my last point. I heard that some people on here say that Cartoon Network didn't have any massive hit since Adventure Time, and you're not wrong about that.

I noticed that since 2016, ever since their Renaissance shows had ended(year by year), Cartoon Network hasn't made any hit shows in awhile (outside of TTG). Sure, we got Craig of the Creek, but was it a major phenomenon compared to Adventure Time and OG Powerpuff Girls? Not really. Yeah, Craig was a hit, but it wasn't that big of a hit.

I think the most contributing factor that ever since Stuart Snyder left in 2014, there were a lot of programming changes and management changes taking place. Multiple companies are trying to take CN many different directions, but they have no idea on what to do with it, nor they give them any opportunity and exposure. But once we FINALLY got a new direction thanks to Tom Aschiem, it got squandered very quickly.

Now that Zaslav took over Warner Bros, it did left CN on a very uncertainty state. Slicing and dicing a whole bunch of content for HBO Max, laying off a bunch of people, and revamping studios. Understandably, it left a lot of people concerned and confused, myself included. However, the more I think about it, Zaslav is a part of a much larger problem with CN over the years. Lack of major leadership role since Snyder left and bad management with AT&T. That, and also the competition has been pumping out hits leading to become relevant in the streaming age.

To wrap it all off because I don't want repeat myself. What's gonna happen to Cartoon Network under Zaslav, Kathleen Finch, Sam Register, and Michael Owlueleen will remained to be seen. I'm still skeptical about this, but I'm not gonna be a doom-talker as other people do. Let's just hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

So that's my two cents.

Exactly!! There's been lack of leadership and oversight since Snyder left. Honestly the guy should get more credit for what he did especially once 2010 started. WB leadership before AT&T and Discovery was still pretty bad as we saw with Miller coming in. Maybe if another company had purchased WB instead of AT&T (FOX, Disney, and Universal would've been better) the culture and structure of the company could've been better.

But I feel like CN is a symptom of how WB has been managed within the past few years. There's a reason why Snyder left. That was probably due to how WB executives wanted to manage the network at that time. Maybe he saw what was coming and decided to jump ship. There's a reason why Christina Miller was chosen as the president and not someone else. In the end we just have to see If WB can be managed well. Because if they can't then that same structure will fall down to CN.

The way WB has been managed is very similar to how the PAC 12 has been dealt with within the past few years. A decade ago the PAC 12 could've taken Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State to get to 16 teams. However due to negotiations going down those teams never came. And ever since then college sports in the west coast has been declining. Larry Scott was the commissioner of the conference and oversaw alot of the issues that the conference had. They signed a very bad contract with ESPN. This led to PAC 12 games starting very late for people to watch. Most games would start at 10pm or later. Larry Scott formed the PAC 12 network to try and compete with other leagues. The big issue with this was that the channel wasn't as widely available as compared to other conference channels. This caused less viewership for PAC 12 teams. Even when they could've expanded last year the university presidents still voted against adding teams. The presidents of certain universities are to blame as well. They could've fired him a long time ago. However, that never happened and the PAC 12 just kept on declining. The PAC 12 did get new leadership last year. However, it was too little too late as USC and UCLA jumped ship and left to the Big 10 and left the PAC 12 behind.

This whole WBD fallout has shown me that if you're not organized as a person or company. Then it's gonna be hard to be successful in whatever industry, job, or trade that you try to compete in. Just a life lesson for everyone lol.

 

[Moe]

To be fair, Cartoon Network's been stagnant since around 2016 or so, long before Discovery came into the picture.

Yes, their schedule is much less variety now but back in 2014, there were Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Scooby Doo, Pokémon, Garfield and many others.

In my 20 years, I have never seen a bigger mess than the WBD merger.

29 years for me, I remember about CNN in 1993 when they rerun of older H-B shows, Looney Tunes, Popeyes, MGM cartoons, Tom and Jerry, including Droppy. Youngest show on CN would be from 1980s, probably Yogi's Treasure Hunt or The Snorks, but most of shows on schedule was 1950s to 1970s, and 1920s to 1980s for cartoon shorts.

Before CN, you had to watch the cartoon block on TBS, TNT and USA, also SYFY had cartoon block when first launched in 1992.

This is already the plan in Atlanta with CNN eventually moving from the recently sold CNN Center onto the WarnerMedia Techwood campus.

Oh wow, my classmates and I visited CNN Center in November 2000 after Coca Cola museum, McDonald's and underground shop.

"My precious"? So I'm Gollum now?

It's weird; I re-read my previous post a few times now, and I didn't spot where I said that Zaslav should be credited for that, or anything else for that matter. I just said it happened and we should be grateful for it.

But I forgot, everyone here has to think of Zaslav as Satan or else he's our Bestie. That's it. Period. There's no neutral ground, nothing in between, no shades of gray. I've stated multiple times now that I don't approve of his recent actions, that I stand firmly with the artists and creators and that I'm not a big reality TV fan, but just because I don't want the man's head on a pike in your mind that means I must be in love with the guy. Got it. Nothing simplistic or childish about that mindset at all.

You want to super-angry about all this, go ahead, be my guest, have fun with that, but don't take your frustrations out on me or anyone else here. I didn't put David Zaslav in charge of Warner Bros. Furthermore I'm not the only one who's not screaming that the sky is falling or saying that all of this gloom-and-doom talk is a) overblown and b) being at least partially fabricated by YouTubers and media articles in order to generate clicks and clout, so again, why are you singling me out? Am I somehow not allowed to be cautiously optimistic? Am I only supposed to be miserable? Sorry, but I've done miserable, I prefer the opposite, thanks.

You'd think people would at least be happy that Cartoon Network isn't shutting down and that we're still getting new shows for it, but I guess not. Forgive me for trying to see a slight silver lining here. (And again, I'm not the only one here doing so; why not rag on them once in a while?) BTW, little secret: CN US wasn't doing all that spectacularly before all this. Or am I not supposed to say that either?

I made a mistake to react his post, my apology.

NO JUST NO HELL NO to any and all reality TV crap. Barely anyone likes reality TV in general/unironically and most people only watch it to make fun of those participating in such noise, at the end of the day. We need more serious shows to be made and those that are still proven hits to stay around, not less, whether live-action or animated (especially).

I don't watch reality shows unless I'm very bored, also I want to make @LinusFan303 happy, so I tried, lol.

What if instead of working in a studio, crewmembers can just work from home now and use Zoom and other stuff for staff meetings? That way they won't have to pay a thing for a new building.

No, Zaslav doesn't allow those and he required all employees to report in the office.

Like I said in the other thread. It's so easy to scapegoat Zaslav over everything that he has done, but it's AT&T's own fault for damaged WB in the first place. It just that Zaslav have to play damage control.

Yes, it looks like I need to get tone down with Zaslav.

I'm not gonna be optimistic about Zaslav's tenure, but even I'll admit that the constant doom-scrolling is really unhealthy for me.

CN Studios and WB Animation merging together is not a bad thing. It's actually is a good thing for both studios so that their productions feels alot more connected, smoother, and unified. At least the brand names are still there, similar to New Line Cinema and Hanna Barbara, but under WB's control.

I personally wouldn't put a pass on a guy who has been known for greenlighting terrible reality shows, give a crap about children's programming when he bought WB all of a sudden. If he care about kids programming, then The Hub would've lasted much longer or Discovery Kids would've put in much better care, but I digress.

My main point is that I'm still skeptical on Zaslav's tenure and on what he's going to do with CN going forward, but I'm not gonna be one of those fear-moron-ganers treating as Cartoon Network being "shut down" as a childhood ruining (or some cases, clickbait people for cash and clout). People like that needs to go.

Oh, and here's my last point. I heard that some people on here say that Cartoon Network didn't have any massive hit since Adventure Time, and you're not wrong about that.

I noticed that since 2016, ever since their Renaissance shows had ended(year by year), Cartoon Network hasn't made any hit shows in awhile (outside of TTG). Sure, we got Craig of the Creek, but was it a major phenomenon compared to Adventure Time and OG Powerpuff Girls? Not really. Yeah, Craig was a hit, but it wasn't that big of a hit.

I think the most contributing factor that ever since Stuart Snyder left in 2014, there were a lot of programming changes and management changes taking place. Multiple companies are trying to take CN many different directions, but they have no idea on what to do with it, nor they give them any opportunity and exposure. But once we FINALLY got a new direction thanks to Tom Aschiem, it got squandered very quickly.

Now that Zaslav took over Warner Bros, it did left CN on a very uncertainty state. Slicing and dicing a whole bunch of content for HBO Max, laying off a bunch of people, and revamping studios. Understandably, it left a lot of people concerned and confused, myself included. However, the more I think about it, Zaslav is a part of a much larger problem with CN over the years. Lack of major leadership role since Snyder left and bad management with AT&T. That, and also the competition has been pumping out hits leading to become relevant in the streaming age.

To wrap it all off because I don't want repeat myself. What's gonna happen to Cartoon Network under Zaslav, Kathleen Finch, Sam Register, and Michael Owlueleen will remained to be seen. I'm still skeptical about this, but I'm not gonna be a doom-talker as other people do. Let's just hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

So that's my two cents.

Well said! I'm wonder if streaming era hurt CN? I would like to see Tom Aschiem rehired as manager for CN.

As myself, I'm not going bother to read the articles from fearmongering website named Cartoon Brew.

I'm interested in fact, not heavily opinionated articles say about CN would shut down. I have enough with those nonsense.

 

[Zanneck]

I'd like to point out that I'm never reading anything from grifters like Cartoon Brew ever again, nor did I have to in the first place to feel as negatively as I do about WB's current state. I came to this conclusion and others on my own. I just wish less people listened to grifters like Cartoon Brew in general - too many people are suckered in by their semi-political propaganda / fear-mongering manufactured evil, at the end of the day, for my liking. People need to start thinking for themselves oh so much more, dammit. OH SO MUCH MORE.

 

[JMTV]

Exactly!! There's been lack of leadership and oversight since Snyder left. Honestly the guy should get more credit for what he did especially once 2010 started.

I agree. Say what you will about Stuart Synder, but at least he brought us the Renaissance shows that are just as recognizable and iconic as the 90's Cartoon Cartoons.

WB leadership before AT&T and Discovery was still pretty bad as we saw with Miller coming in.

Yeah, not gonna lie. Post AOL-Time Warner Turner era was pretty crap. Not dissing on Christina Miller, but she didn't push the boundaries compared to Snyder. She's playing it way too safe.

Maybe if another company had purchased WB instead of AT&T(FOX, Disney, and Universal would've been better) the culture and structure of the company could've been better.

I don't want to get into another merger and acquisitions rabbit hole, but yeah, any company would've been better. Why WB choose a phone company and a reality TV mongaloid is beyond me.

But I feel like CN is a symptom of how WB has been managed within the past few years. There's a reason why Snyder left. That was probably due to how WB executives wanted to manage the network at that time. Maybe he saw what was coming and decided to jump ship. There's a reason why Christina Miller was chosen as the president not someone else.

For what I've heard, Snyder left due to having disputes with David Levy (Turner CEO at the time).

Christina Miller was something that the WB execs wanted rather than someone at Turner trying to find someone who can help push CN forward. During the Miller era, CN was just twiddling their thumbs waiting for their next big hit after Adventure Time was over, yet none of them really stuck out. Sure, you can have some Craig, Bears, OK KOs, and some extent Total Dramaramas and Infinity Trains as much as you want, but let's be honest, were those mainstream hits compared to CN's competitors SpongeBobs, Loud Houses, or Descendants? Most likely not.

The only CN show that was and is a mainstream hit was Teen Titans Go. Now, look where that went.

I personally think that WB and Turner made the wrong move of hiring Christina Miller. No, not because of TTG oversaturation, but because she's not a strong enough leader to help push CN for the future. All it is her harkens back to status quo, and didn't do anything to reinvent or challenge the status quo. Which is a shame.

But that's just my theory.

In the end we just have to see If WB can be managed well. Because if they can't then that same structure will fall down to CN.

Yeah, I agree.

This whole WBD fallout has shown me that if you're not organized as a person or company. Then it's gonna be hard to be successful in the long run. Just a life lesson for everyone lol

Yeah, pretty much.

 

[lowell]

Like I said in the other thread. It's so easy to scapegoat Zaslav over everything that he has done, but it's AT&T's own fault for damaged WB in the first place. It just that Zaslav have to play damage control.

I'm not gonna be optimistic about Zaslav's tenure, but even I'll admit that the constant doom-scrolling is really unhealthy for me.

CN Studios and WB Animation merging together is not a bad thing. It's actually is a good thing for both studios so that their productions feels alot more connected, smoother, and unified. At least the brand names are still there, similar to New Line Cinema and Hanna Barbara, but under WB's control.

I personally wouldn't put a pass on a guy who has been known for greenlighting terrible reality shows, give a crap about children's programming when he bought WB all of a sudden. If he care about kids programming, then The Hub would've lasted much longer or Discovery Kids would've put in much better care, but I digress.

My main point is that I'm still skeptical on Zaslav's tenure and on what he's going to do with CN going forward, but I'm not gonna be one of those fear-moron-ganers treating as Cartoon Network being "shut down" as a childhood ruining (or some cases, clickbait people for cash and clout). People like that needs to go.

Oh, and here's my last point. I heard that some people on here say that Cartoon Network didn't have any massive hit since Adventure Time, and you're not wrong about that.

I noticed that since 2016, ever since their Renaissance shows had ended(year by year), Cartoon Network hasn't made any hit shows in awhile (outside of TTG). Sure, we got Craig of the Creek, but was it a major phenomenon compared to Adventure Time and OG Powerpuff Girls? Not really. Yeah, Craig was a hit, but it wasn't that big of a hit.

I think the most contributing factor that ever since Stuart Snyder left in 2014, there were a lot of programming changes and management changes taking place. Multiple companies are trying to take CN many different directions, but they have no idea on what to do with it, nor they give them any opportunity and exposure. But once we FINALLY got a new direction thanks to Tom Aschiem, it got squandered very quickly.

Now that Zaslav took over Warner Bros, it did left CN on a very uncertainty state. Slicing and dicing a whole bunch of content for HBO Max, laying off a bunch of people, and revamping studios. Understandably, it left a lot of people concerned and confused, myself included. However, the more I think about it, Zaslav is a part of a much larger problem with CN over the years. Lack of major leadership role since Snyder left and bad management with AT&T. That, and also the competition has been pumping out hits leading to become relevant in the streaming age.

To wrap it all off because I don't want repeat myself. What's gonna happen to Cartoon Network under Zaslav, Kathleen Finch, Sam Register, and Michael Owlueleen will remained to be seen. I'm still skeptical about this, but I'm not gonna be a doom-talker as other people do. Let's just hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

So that's my two cents.

Major credit goes to Bewkes for agreeing to sell WarnerMedia to AT&T in the first place.

It was all his intention to do that and not doing any acquisitions to grow the company or promoting synergy between WB, Turner, and HBO first before doing a sale.

And he, of course, had the nerve to say AT&T did a lot of mistakes when he signed off on their purchase of the company.

The way I see it is Zaslav is sort of like Bewkes 2.0. He's going to flip this company to someone else like
how Bewkes sold to AT&T in the first place.

We're going to have to wait a while before we see a more stabilized ownership if that does happen or not.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

I'd like to point out that I'm never reading anything from grifters like Cartoon Brew ever again, nor did I have to in the first place to feel as negatively as I do about WB's current state. I came to this conclusion and others on my own. I just wish less people listened to grifters like Cartoon Brew in general - too many people are suckered in by their semi-political propaganda / fear-mongering manufactured evil, at the end of the day, for my liking. People need to start thinking for themselves oh so much more, dammit. OH SO MUCH MORE.

It stems from when Amid Amidi ran the site and would say anything outrageous for attention. Infamously he created the entire brony movement by claiming The Hub and MLP:FIM would kill original ideas forever, causing people to actually check it out and like it.

Thing is, in this modern media landscape, folks are usually rewarded for lying, not punished. If CB is about to actually receive backlash from its readers, that would be a first.

 

[JMTV]

Major credit goes to Bewkes for agreeing to sell WarnerMedia to AT&T in the first place.

It was all his intention to do that and not doing any acquisitions to grow the company or promoting synergy between WB, Turner, and HBO first before doing a sale.

And he, of course, had the nerve to say AT&T did a lot of mistakes when he signed off on their purchase of the company.

Honestly, he should never sold off TimeWarner to AT&T in the first place.

It stems from when Amid Amidi ran the site and would say anything outrageous for attention.

Exactly. This is the same guy who perpetuate the Harvey Beaks drama just for the clout. So screw him!

 

[lowell]

Honestly, he should never sold off TimeWarner to AT&T in the first place.

Exactly. This is the same guy who perpetuate the Harvey Beaks drama just for the clout. So screw him!

The problem is all he wanted from the CEO role is to get a guaranteed golden parachute exit payment with the highest value possible after a sale of the company was able to happen.

He treated each part of WarnerMedia like it was its own country.

That meant AT&T had to do the hard work and bring everyone together in 2019 when Bewkes could've very much done that during his term.

This was also the guy that was scared of overbidding for MGM because shareholders could "punish" him by making the stock price go down.

Given this guy was originally came from HBO, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't like getting together with his equivalents at WB and Turner.

He also said Netflix wouldn't change anything in Hollywood and look where that got us:

“It’s a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?” Bewkes tells the New York Times. “I don’t think so.”

Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes: Netflix Is No Threat to Media Companies

"It’s a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?” says the CEO. "I don’t think so."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

More on that:

Time Warner Views Netflix as a Fading Star (Published 2010)

Netflix, now the envy of the media world, had a lucrative contract with Starz that gave it cheap content. That deal is expiring, and rivals are gloating.

www.nytimes.com

For a guy who was a major CEO in the 2010s, he acted like everything is still stuck in the 90s.

 

[LinusFan303]

The problem is all he wanted from the CEO role is to get a guaranteed golden parachute exit payment with the highest value possible after a sale of the company was able to happen.

He treated each part of WarnerMedia like it was its own country.

That meant AT&T had to do the hard work and bring everyone together in 2019 when Bewkes could've very much done that during his term.

This was also the guy that was scared of overbidding for MGM because shareholders could "punish" him by making the stock price go down.

Given this guy was originally came from HBO, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't like getting together with his equivalents at WB and Turner.

He also said Netflix wouldn't change anything in Hollywood and look where that got us:

“It’s a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?” Bewkes tells the New York Times. “I don’t think so.”

Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes: Netflix Is No Threat to Media Companies

"It’s a little bit like, is the Albanian army going to take over the world?” says the CEO. "I don’t think so."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

More on that:

Time Warner Views Netflix as a Fading Star (Published 2010)

Netflix, now the envy of the media world, had a lucrative contract with Starz that gave it cheap content. That deal is expiring, and rivals are gloating.

www.nytimes.com

For a guy who was a major CEO in the 2010s, he acted like everything is still stuck in the 90s.

I don't really see a logic of having everything be run with synergy, like having different parts of company have different objectives but their own focus. The people who carn the Turner section cared about the Turner section, (except for picking Zucker to run CNN) and still had some of that Atlanta sensibility. (Where I would have had the whole company based if I had the power of choosing that). Warner Bros was able to their own thing and care about their part.

On the Netflix thing, if major companies stopped supplying their stuff to Netflix back in 2014 they would been able to snuff it out. That's more hindsight.

The Phone Company wasn't really brining things together for a purpose, they were smashing through and hoped it worked. I know there was a delay because it was being dragged in the courts (and of course, I don't think they should have been allowed to own Warner) so they didn't get the chance to start their streamer earlier, but they became too focused on streaming when as noted it's costing more money than bringing in, even with the HBO cable subs. While they started cutting TBS/TNT/ Tru TV. Cartoon Network was hit hard because of the uncertainty of the merger , then merger finally happens, Phone Company was then doing the synergy thing moving things around having to then place in new executives that took another year. The new parent company then wanted them to also make stuff for the shiny new streaming service as well. They finally seemed to find some goal or footing in 2020, then well Phone Company man goes golfing in 2021 and sales that thing he messed up to another guy. Cartoon Network has been really stuck in 6 years of just mess.

So I don't think synergy really brought anything good , things and content seemed to be going well without it. Now maybe if Bewks did it and it was earlier maybe the results would have been less ham-fisted the way it was, but it also could have been seen as he didn't see it as broken so why fix it?

 

[lowell]

I don't really see a logic of having everything be run with synergy, like having different parts of company have different objectives but their own focus. The people who carn the Turner section cared about the Turner section, (except for picking Zucker to run CNN) and still had some of that Atlanta sensibility. (Where I would have had the whole company based if I had the power of choosing that). Warner Bros was able to their own thing and care about their part.

On the Netflix thing, if major companies stopped supplying their stuff to Netflix back in 2014 they would been able to snuff it out. That's more hindsight.

The Phone Company wasn't really brining things together for a purpose, they were smashing through and hoped it worked. I know there was a delay because it was being dragged in the courts (and of course, I don't think they should have been allowed to own Warner) so they didn't get the chance to start their streamer earlier, but they became too focused on streaming when as noted it's costing more money than bringing in, even with the HBO cable subs. While they started cutting TBS/TNT/ Tru TV. Cartoon Network was hit hard because of the uncertainty of the merger , then merger finally happens, Phone Company was then doing the synergy thing moving things around having to then place in new executives that took another year. The new parent company then wanted them to also make stuff for the shiny new streaming service as well. They finally seemed to find some goal or footing in 2020, then well Phone Company man goes golfing in 2021 and sales that thing he messed up to another guy. Cartoon Network has been really stuck in 6 years of just mess.

So I don't think synergy really brought anything good , things and content seemed to be going well without it. Now maybe if Bewks did it and it was earlier maybe the results would have been less ham-fisted the way it was, but it also could have been seen as he didn't see it as broken so why fix it?

I would say if Bewkes actually cared about the company being prepared for the future, he should've done the synergy during his reign.

He knows all the ins and outs of WarnerMedia so I mean, he wouldn't have done it in the way AT&T did it.

The Netflix thing with him just seems like he's out of touch. It's like believing the phone would continue to be purely a communication device and that it wouldn't get to be more advanced through time where other features would be added to make it much more than just something to call with.

But given AT&T just bought the company on a whim, jumping into streaming like other rivals did made sense to be a move they would make. They see what everyone else is doing and they follow it.

Even AT&T bought out the rest of Otter Media after the initial closing date of the deal in June before the appeal, to do not much with it but only to strip out Crunchyroll and VRV to sell it off later.

But I think the synergy that we've gotten from AT&T did make Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TCM, etc. a lot more inclusive into the table that they have a seat alongside WB, HBO, and CNN.

I don't think the synergy was unavoidable, just each department continuing to be isolated from each other would've made it much harder for collaborations down the road if necessary.

The future going forward will require them to unite together to compete against other companies who are already prepared to go into the streaming front.

 

[Red Arrow]

I can't say I am optimistic. Warner Bros Animation is devoid of creativity, they just focus on milking out well-known characters... And now Cartoon Network is also rebooting The Powerpuff Girls (again) and Foster's. And it looks like they are cancelling every CN Studios cartoon except for We Baby Bears. Help.

I really don't want Cartoon Network to be another Nickelodeon. I want it to make actually new content rather than reboots. I hope Unicorn: Warriors Eternal and Battu won't suffer from this merger.

I'm looking at it from a different perspective than the ones who are panicking. I haven't seen Cartoon Network thrive with fresh original cartoons since the early to mid 2010's. So we'll see where the company goes from here.

While I agree that CN hasn't thrived since the early to mid 2010s, I am only seeing hints of further decline now.

 

[lowell]

I can't say I am optimistic. Warner Bros Animation is devoid of creativity, they just focus on milking out well-known characters... And now Cartoon Network is also rebooting The Powerpuff Girls (again) and Foster's. And it looks like they are cancelling their two most popular cartoons. Help.

I really don't want Cartoon Network to be another Nickelodeon. I want it to make new content. I hope Unicorn: Warriors Eternal and Battu won't suffer from this merger.

In this discussion it doesn't matter how popular Craig of the Creek is compared to all other cartoons, what matters is that it's more popular than the other current CN originals. If Craig of the Creek is getting cancelled, then a similar fate might await the other CN originals.

While I agree that CN hasn't thrived since the early to mid 2010s, I am only seeing hints of further decline now.

Given the CW is going through significant changes going forward, we may be spared of the live-action adaptation.

Disney and Paramount are somewhat migrating Disney Channel and Nickelodeon into streaming. WarnerDiscovery has to do a little bit of that to make sure Cartoon Network actually catches up with its rivals.

Because in the future beyond them being a channel, they are much more than that, it is a brand in the forefront.

 

[Checkerboard]

I would argue that CN has better shows and hits than Craig. Ok ko, summer camp island, apple and onion and especially steven universe are/were quite big. Also infinity train given its treatment.

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

I can't say I am optimistic. Warner Bros Animation is devoid of creativity, they just focus on milking out well-known characters... And now Cartoon Network is also rebooting The Powerpuff Girls (again) and Foster's. And it looks like they are cancelling every CN Studios cartoon except for We Baby Bears. Help.

I really don't want Cartoon Network to be another Nickelodeon. I want it to make actually new content rather than reboots. I hope Unicorn: Warriors Eternal and Battu won't suffer from this merger.

While I agree that CN hasn't thrived since the early to mid 2010s, I am only seeing hints of further decline now.

To be fair Nickelodeon has a lot New Animated projects on the Horizon. Their future looks pretty good

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

I would argue that CN has better shows and hits than Craig. Ok ko, summer camp island, apple and onion and especially steven universe are/were quite big. Also infinity train given its treatment.

The question is are these shows popular and marketable with the general public? And the unfortunate answer is no.

Alot of these shows aren't popular with kids and young adults. Nick and Disney shows are still popular enough that any time I go to the store or other places I always see so much Nick and Disney stuff.

 

[Moe]

To be fair Nickelodeon has a lot New Animated projects on the Horizon. Their future looks pretty good

but they don't treat new cartoon shows well.

If new cartoon shows don't have same rating as SpongeBob so it will be dumped to Nicktoons until cancellation.

If Nielsen wasn't around so Nick wouldn't know about which shows are popular and possibly treat shows fairly. Too much SpongeBob on Nick, too much Bluey on Disney Channel and too much TTG on Cartoon Network are because of Nielsen.

I'm all for DOJ to sue Nielsen and shut the their rating department down.

 

[Checkerboard]

The question is are these shows popular and marketable with the general public? And the unfortunate answer is no.

Alot of these shows aren't popular with kids and young adults. Nick and Disney shows are still popular enough that any time I go to the store or other places I always see so much Nick and Disney stuff.

I dunno. Steven was a hit and OK KO was popular. The other two are less universally praised I guess.

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

I dunno. Steven was a hit and OK KO was popular. The other two are less universally praised I guess.

yeah but steven universe came out in 2013 a year before synder left. And yeah Ok KO was popular back in 2017. But after it came out it seemed like the network didn't really promote it as much as they used to.