The news of the new Warner Bros. Discovery streaming platform had a lot of echo in recent days, because in addition to creating uncertainty among HBO Max users, many company collaborators feared a restructuring, something that is already a fact that will happen .
According to a report, HBO Max will cut 14% of its staff , or about 70 jobs , vacancies that were headed by former HBO Max chief content officer Kevin Reilly.
Other affected departments include commercials, programming and production, said one of the sources consulted by CNBC. However, no shows will be canceled as part of the job cuts.
Warner Bros. Discovery will compete in an increasingly competitive broadcast space. Paramount+ has just announced an agreement with Walmart that will combine the Paramount+ Essential level with Walmart Plus subscriptions.
While Disney announced last week that it will introduce an ad-supported Disney+ tier and that Disney+ and Hulu will get hefty price increases in December. In addition to Netflix’s efforts, which is working on an ad-supported subscription.
Changes in organization and content
HBO Max users discovered a few days ago that they no longer had six movies on their platform: Moonshot, Superintelligence, The Witches, An American Picke, Locked Down and Charm City Kings. In addition, the company closed Bat Girl, one of its productions in development.
“The decision not to release Batgirl reflects the strategic shift in our leadership as it relates to the DC Universe and HBO Max,” a Warner Bros. Pictures spokesperson said in a statement.
However, the entertainment conglomerate confirmed that it achieved 92.1 million paying subscribers, a discreet but consolidated increase, from its 76.8 million subscriptions that it indicated to have in the last quarter.
