Skydance puts Paramount and Warner executives in joint charge of TV

George Cheeks from Paramount and JB Perrette from Warner Bros. Discovery will run television together as co-chairs of Skydance TV.

The pairing was confirmed in Skydance's new leadership line-up, announced on 5 October by chairman and chief executive David Ellison and co-chief executive Ynon Kreiz. It puts one senior leader from each side of the combined Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery company in charge of the same division, according to Deadline.

Cheeks takes the title of Chief Content Officer, meaning he leads creative decisions on what gets made and aired. Perrette takes the title of Chief Business Officer, meaning he leads the commercial side, including advertising sales, distribution, programme sales to other buyers and international operations.

They are the only co-chair pair drawn from different sides of the merger. Other joint remits stay inside one legacy company. Casey Bloys and Perrette share oversight of DTC, meaning the direct-to-consumer streaming business that sells subscriptions straight to viewers, with Bloys as DTC Chief Content Officer. James Gunn and Peter Safran share oversight of DC, and Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein share oversight of film.

The scope is large. Skydance TV covers three Skydance television studios, Warner Bros. TV, CBS Studios and Paramount TV Studios, plus the CBS broadcast network and about 30 basic cable networks, meaning channels delivered through a pay-TV package. The newly formed Television division also includes sports assets from Paramount and Warner Bros., according to the announcement carried by Skydance.

Perrette holds a second job alongside TV. He shares leadership of streaming with Bloys and carries broad responsibility for global distribution, advertising sales, content sales, streaming strategy, marketing and business operations.

Cheeks has already started to outline his priorities. In a memo to staff, he praised CBS, sports and news as strengths of the combined group, as reported by Deadline.

One early reporting line is set. Warner Bros. TV chief Channing Dungey reports to both Cheeks and Perrette, according to Deadline.

For viewers, this means fewer separate fiefdoms. Decisions on commissions, meaning orders for new series, schedules and where shows stream or air will run through two people with different mandates. One decides what gets made. The other decides how it is sold and distributed. That split will shape which stories get finished and where audiences find them.