Int’l Brief: The Banijay Behemoth, Europe Tests Paramount-WBD, ‘SNL’ vs. London
Yes, mega-mergers are a very messy business everywhere
I cover int’l TV from London. I wrote about Tubi U.K.’s success with Gen Z, Disney’s scramble to catch up with Netflix in global TV and the international fallout of Netflix’s deal to acquire Warner Bros. I’m manori@theankler.com
“Absolutely fucking embarrassingly terrible.”
That’s how one international staffer described to me the Feb. 27 Warner Bros. Discovery town hall where top brass appeared “shell-shocked” after Paramount Skydance emerged victorious with its $111 billion bid.
“The worst was that a lot of people are understandably worried [about losing their jobs] and [CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels] is going, ‘Oh, well, obviously it’s hugely disappointing for me. I spent the last six months looking forward to being a CEO,’” notes the source (Weidenfels was set to lead Discovery Global, the planned spinoff of WBD’s cable properties, now moot). “It’s like, fuck off. You’ve got $144 million [when the sale closes]. You’re never going to be worrying about feeding your kids or paying your mortgage.”
Hello from London, where a tidal wave of M&A is hitting the industry from all sides — and unleashing a torrent of questions, anxiety and opportunism.
Today I’ve got the international fallout from Paramount’s shock acquisition and what Europe can — and can’t — do about it; the creation of the world’s largest independent TV studio, a true behemoth following Banijay’s merger with All3Media (and the power struggle many see coming); and a look at Saturday Night Live’s long-awaited U.K. debut on March 21 that has plenty of detractors.
And nowhere will the new Paramount-WBD empire face more scrutiny than Europe…
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