Good evening, I'm Dylan Byers.
Welcome back to In the Room, my biweekly private email on the intrigue and inside story behind what’s going on in the media industry.
Over the past week, I’ve been covering the fallout from Jeff Zucker’s ouster, and its implications for CNN’s journalists, the network, and its new parentco., Warner Bros. Discovery. Today, I’m discussing the latest details, including some fresh reporting, with Puck co-founder, Jon Kelly. Herewith…
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Notes on Zaslav’s plans for Warner Bros. Discovery, more insight into the CNN mess, and plenty of succession questions. Jon Kelly: Dylan, you’ve had a week covering the fallout from Jeff Zucker’s resignation. Naturally, the most heated conversations are about what’s going on inside CNN, but I’m most curious about the higher-altitude picture. Not only does Warner Bros. Discovery C.E.O. David Zaslav have to hire Zucker’s replacement, but he’s also likely to replace Zucker’s old boss, Jason Kilar, who is presumed to exit at the conclusion of the deal. What are you hearing about this?
Dylan Byers: It turns out that no one is going to replace Jason Kilar. David Zaslav will have the heads of the entertainment, sports and news divisions of Warner Bros. Discovery report in to him, sources familiar with his plans tell me, effectively eradicating the layer that Kilar inhabited. This is to be expected—Zaslav is integrating a public company with a division of a conglomerate, and Kilar’s role was a synergy.
So the more relevant question is: who is Zaslav going to pick to lead Warner Bros. Discovery’s combined entertainment assets, which will include Warner Bros., HBO, and a litany of linear networks? Sources who have spoken to Zaslav tell me that's a question that occupies far more of his brainspace than anything involving CNN—despite all the ink we've spilled on Jeff Zucker over the last week.
At WarnerMedia, the top entertainment job is held by Ann Sarnoff. I don't see Sarnoff keeping that particular role at Warner Bros. Discovery. She might be replaced by a new entertainment chief of Zaslav's choosing or have her portfolio shift in a reorganization that puts multiple leaders at the helm of various entertainment divisions. In the event that Zaslav opts for the former, who does he want in that chair? I think Disney entertainment chief Peter Rice is high on Zaslav's list. He's an accomplished and well-respected leader, and someone who, while ambitious, shuns the spotlight and might therefore be comfortable working as a Zaslav deputy.
As I reported back in December, the pervasive chatter among Hollywood insiders is that Rice is restless at Disney, especially since a corporate restructuring stripped away his P&L and put more power in the hands of Disney distribution chief Kareem Daniel. A source close to Rice disputes that and says he’s quite happy where he is, and that he recently re-signed with Disney, but it's possible that the restructuring gives him an opening to get out of there should he get a better offer. (Representatives for Disney and Discovery declined to comment.)
There are other names floating out there, too ...
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