Today Warner Bros. Discovery announced its President of International TV Distribution, Robert Blair, would be leaving the company after 25 years. This alone is not surprising, but in the memo from WBD President of International Gerhard Zeiler, it was announced that his role would not be replaced according to a memo obtained by Deadline.
Here is part of that memo:
Last year, we unveiled a new org structure for International, which we believed best positioned us for success at that time. But we also acknowledged that in an ever-changing industry and market, we would need to continue to evolve in a thoughtful and strategic way, along with the climate around us.
Seven months into 2023, although we remain confident about our trajectory as a business, we are at another inflection point, and one where the global economy has not rebounded as quickly as we had hoped.
As such, today I’m announcing that Robert Blair, President, WBD International TV Distribution, will be departing WBD.
The memo went on to say that Blair’s leaving was in no way a reflection on his performance but was instead “a shift we need to make to continue to refine our efficiency and cost structure.”
This move strongly suggests that Warner Bros. Discovery will keep more content in-house and likely streaming on Max instead of selling it to 3rd part cable TV networks around the world.
In the past, media companies have resold their content internationally to other cable networks to air in Europe and around the world. Now it seems that Warner Bros. Discovery is moving in a new direction, much like other media companies have.
Disney has even gone so far as to shut down many of its cable networks, including the Disney Channel in Europe, as it pushes fans to subscribe to Disney+. It is possible we will see something similar here with Max as Warner Bros. Discovery tries to cut out the middleman.