Warner Bros. Discovery Confirms Kids’ Content Cuts

deadline.com:

Kids and animated content are set for a broad swath of cuts across Warner Bros. Discovery.Yesterday, Deadline revealed that HBO Max had canceled Ellen DeGeneres’ preschool series Little Ellen and it’s emerged that this was part of a much wider strategy shift.Warner Bros.

Discovery operates kids channels such as Cartoon Network and Boomerang and has had a pipeline of kids shows on HBO Max.Warner Bros.

Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, on the company’s earnings call, confirmed that kids and animation content, across both streaming and linear networks, would be cut “without an adequate investment case against them.”‘Little Ellen’ Scrapped At HBO Max Ahead Of Season 3 Premiere As Questions Surround Future Of Streamer’s Animation StrategyWiedenfels added that these savings would also include from cuts to streaming movie, the closure of CNN+, the exit from local content in international markets and “restructuring the scripted content portfolio on the linear net”.He added that the company was also set for significant reductions in external content sales as it prioritizes HBO Max.

It will largely halt new content licensing deals.“This is, of course, an upside opportunity over time as we ramp initiatives back to a balanced level of monetization, depending on relative value contributions,” he said.Broadcast networks’ fall lineups and schedulesNew and returning series on broadcast, cable and streamingSeries that made it or didn’t make it in 2021-22