In the months following the merger that created Warner Bros. Discovery, cancellations of shows like Westworld have dominated the news cycle. As HBO and its streaming arm HBO Max start to head into the 2023 TV schedule, all eyes will be on where the business-oriented axe will fall next. Some further justification has been given by Warner Bros. Discovery’s CFO Gunnar Weidenfels, who claims that the previous leadership engaged in what he called a "spending frenzy."
Attending a recent Citibank conference, Weidenfels got right to the heart of the cuts that have been made to the streaming service’s library. In the eyes of himself and his fellow Warner Bros. Discovery decision makers, the CFO shared these remarks (via THR) on some specific flaws in the old HBO Max playbook:
There was a lot of thinking of, you know, let’s do more more more, not necessarily ‘let’s do the exact right things, let’s do what works. We have the the ability, the benefit, to be Monday morning quarterbacks here. … We’re coming from an irrational time of overspending with very limited focus on return on investment, and I think others are going to have to make some adjustments that we frankly have behind us now.
In addition to those remarks, Gunnar Weidenfels also claims that the streaming market on the whole will be turning to the same lengths that Warner Bros. Discovery is to stay competitive. Playing close to the economic side of the issue, it sounded as if Warner Bros. Discovery's CFO was positioning the company as ahead of the curve on this very issue.
2022 was an interesting year to have an HBO Max subscription, as the service’s library underwent radical changes. Everything from Max Original movies and series like Gordita Chronicles to Looney Tunes shorts have been culled, in service of the supposed vision that CEO David Zaslav has for the Warner Bros. Discovery brand.
One component of this new business model has been the licensing of HBO Max products to other Free Ad-supported Streaming Television (FAST) platforms. As for the future of the home stable of talent, Gunnar Weidenfels teased the following:
We have every intention to continue spending, content is the lifeblood of this company. It’s obviously a hit-driven business, you win some you lose some. But if you look at the creative lineup that David [Zaslav] has been able to assemble, this is a first flight lineup of creative talent.
According to the remarks above, the talent that’s ready to usher in a new era of HBO Max is waiting. However, perhaps there’s also some sort of guidelines similar to Netflix’s 28-day viewership rule in the works, so as to aid in that Monday morning quarterbacking that has been suggested. Maybe the sense that scaling back, and potentially increasing subscription fees, is one that we'll see taking place at a greater pace in the near future.
Although, with the cancellations that have been made and talent like Westworld’s James Marsden hoping other networks will try to finish what HBO had started, maybe part of the new competition that Weidenfels is predicting will be resurrecting old favorites for one last ride.
Perhaps this is the first chapter in the new age of streaming ahead, where old friends become new foes to the companies that created them. If that's not fitting, then perhaps we should just wait and see what happens next. Then again, you can't Monday morning quarterback if you don't play the game on Sunday!
