Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly cutting back on the scripted programming output of TNT and TBS. Warner Bros. Discovery has wasted no time slashing costs after the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery. One of the first verticals to get shut down was CNN+, the new streaming platform spinoff of the news company CNN. The new streaming venture was shuttled shortly after its launch, which came to a shock to its employees, many of which learned of the news on social media. Warner Bros. Discover CEO David Zaslav is now turning his attention to TNT and TBS, bringing an end to the networks’ original scripted programming.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Variety reports TNT and TBS will no longer develop new scripted content, as Zaslav looks to trim $3 billion in savings for Warner Bros. Discovery. Even though both networks have generated new scripted programs over the last decade, the last several years have seen that output diminish. The Last OG, Miracle Workers, Chad, and American Dad are the last of the scripted shows on TBS, while TNT has Animal Kingdom and Snowpiercer. A decision on what will happen to TNT and TBS’s scripted shows was not made publicly available.
The Last OG wrapped up its fourth season last year, and there hasn’t been word on a fifth season; Miracle Workers started Season 3 in July 2021, and a fourth season was ordered in November; Chad debuted in the summer of 2021 and Season 2 is expected to air this year; and American Dad was renewed for two more seasons back in December. The popular animated series originally began on FOX before moving to TBS.
On the TNT front, Season 6 will be the finale for Animal Kingdom, and Snowpiercer was renewed for a fourth season before its Season 3 premiere.
Tuesday saw Warner Bros. Discovery announce its first-quarter earnings, with Discovery taking up the majority of the reporting since the newly merged company didn’t exist until this month. WarnerMedia’s first-quarter earnings were wrapped into AT&T’s call for the final time. WarnerMedia CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels revealed the company came in $500 million lower in Discovery’s assets profit projection.
Following the successful acquisition of AT&T’s WarnerMedia subsidiary, Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock was up 3%. WBD was trading at $24.88 before markets closed for the holiday weekend. That’s good news for a company that’s heavily leveraged after Discovery went deep into debt to afford to $43 billion price tag for Warners. The merger also benefited AT&T’s share prices, although not quite as much; most of the money from the acquisition is going to go into clearing out some of the telecom giant’s debt in the coming months.
