AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia is preparing a restructuring that seeks to reduce costs by as much as 20% as the coronavirus pandemic drains income from movie tickets, cable subscriptions and TV ads, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Wall Street Journal reports the overhaul is expected to begin in the coming weeks and could affect staffing across Warner Bros. studios and TV channels like HBO, TBS and TNT.
Rivals including Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal have also cut jobs in recent months as the film and TV business struggles.
“Like the rest of the entertainment industry, we have not been immune to the significant impact of the pandemic,” a WarnerMedia spokesman said, adding that the company would reorder its operations to focus on growth opportunities. “We are in the midst of that process and it will involve increased investments in priority areas and, unfortunately, reductions in others.”
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| Jason Kilar |
The move is the latest by WarnerMedia chief Jason Kilar to remake the Hollywood icon since he took control of the division in May. The former Hulu boss ousted many of the unit’s top executives in August and rolled all production operations into a single unit under Warner Bros., suggesting more positions could be at risk.
AT&T has staked much of its media-focused strategy on HBO Max since the streaming video service launched in late May. About 4.1 million subscribers had activated the streaming app about a month after its launch, lagging cheaper rivals from Netflix Inc. and Disney. Overall HBO subscriptions, which include viewers watching the slimmer premium channel through cable TV bundles, still rose to about 36 million.
That early growth hasn’t offset deeper declines at the commercial entertainment cable networks TNT, TBS and TruTV, which used to be known as the Turner networks. The company’s other cable networks include news channels CNN and HLN as well as Cartoon Network.
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