Peter Bart: The Deal Gets Real At WarnerMedia As David Zaslav Ponders Its Power Structure
deadline.comDavid Zaslav, who is famously gregarious and high-energy, has been oddly quiet lately with an absence of media interviews or social events on his schedule.
Even his regular booth at the Polo Lounge has been somnolent.That’s about to change: Zaslav arrived back in Hollywood yesterday and the industry has been forcefully reminded that “the deal” is real.As federal regulators and other random bureaucrats remove their barriers, the long-awaited entity called Warner Bros.
Discovery becomes a functioning reality in four short weeks.There are high expectations of imminent moves that will impact the power structures spanning television, movies and news.For over a year the managements of Warner Bros, CNN, HBO and beyond have labored in a bureaucratic cloud, with executives implementing policies they knew were likely evanescent.So now starts the guessing game.
Who will be anointed to fill the $43 billion power vacuum? Barred from occupying offices on the Warners lot or taking formal policy meetings, Zaslav has now concluded his yearlong “listening tour” and is mobilized for action.But here’s where history intrudes: It’s been 50 years since Steve Ross’ monomaniacal mergers led to the formation of the massive, if unstable, Time Warner empire.A one-time funeral director, Ross quickly assembled a band of pals and financial allies to run his new show, and it was party time.
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