HBO Chief Casey Bloys to Stay On for Paramount Merger
Casey Bloys is staying on to run HBO through its next ownership change.
The Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content, a 22-year HBO veteran, is expected to continue in the role when the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger officially closes on Oct. 6, and to bring three of his senior lieutenants with him, according to Deadline.
He has seen owners come and go. Bloys was HBO President of Programming when AT&T acquired Time Warner, and was Content Chief for HBO and HBO Max when WarnerMedia was acquired by Discovery in 2022. Netflix's later deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery was ultimately unsuccessful.
The three executives expected to move to Paramount with Bloys are Francesca Orsi, head of drama at HBO, Amy Gravitt, head of comedy at HBO, and Sarah Aubrey, the HBO Max executive who oversees The Pitt, Hacks, the upcoming Harry Potter series and international output. Orsi was approached for a top programming job at Amazon MGM Studios in the summer before October 2026 but stayed at HBO.
The streaming picture is also taking shape. Cindy Holland, Chair of Direct to Consumer at Paramount, meaning streaming, exited in the week before the merger close. That leaves Bloys as the presumed head of the combined streaming operation. He has hinted that HBO Max and Paramount+ may be bundled, meaning sold together but kept as separate apps, rather than merged into one service.
Contracts help explain the pecking order. Bloys' deal runs through 2027 and is said to include a stipulation that he reports to the company's CEO. David Ellison is CEO of Paramount, while Ynon Kreiz is set to become co-CEO of the merged Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery on pay of at least $35 million a year, according to Deadline. George Cheeks remains Chairman of TV Media for Paramount.
Viewers already have some certainty on screen. Six HBO series have been renewed, meaning ordered for another season: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, It: Welcome To Derry, Rooster, Task, I Love LA and The Chair Company.
For fans, this means continuity. Bloys described the bursting of the TV content bubble as a "catastrophe" in an October 2026 interview, and earlier talked at length with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos about the future of the merged organisation, as reported by Variety. The new structure keeps the team that commissioned the current slate in place to see it through.
