Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav loves Turner Classic Movies (best known as TCM) so much that he’s making deep cuts in its key staff and re-appointing a previous head of the channel.
Here are some possible aftereffects:
1. No more TCM Film Festival. It’s a pricey annual diversion for a subset of the channel’s fanbase. But the festival, through its restoration premieres and star/director appearances, generates a lot of value and goodwill. Zaslav may consider it a waste of time and resources. And if the festival goes, expect huge and passionate pushback.
2. No more TCM Cruises. Repeat the above pricey annual diversion statement. But this likely wouldn’t spark outrage on the level of ending the film festival.
3. No more TCM branding—books, wines, etc.
4. Fewer hosts. Guessing Zaslav is bottom-line fixated enough to see Eddie Muller’s film noir showings and Jacqueline Stewart’s Sunday night silent films as nonessential programming to be discarded for more showings of familiar fare (Cary Grant, 1940s Humphrey Bogart, Doris Day, 1950s William Holden, Audrey Hepburn). The host rotation of Ben/Dave/Alicia should be safe.
5. Moving from cable to exclusive online app.
6. Moving from cable to expanded curation niche subset of Max.
Let’s find out (with trepidation) what Zaslav chooses to do next.
