At long last: Skydance deal closes, beginning new era for CNN, TNT

After months of twists and turns, the blockbuster deal combining two of Hollywood’s most storied institutions has closed, beginning a new chapter for CNN and the former Turner Broadcasting networks that helped establish Atlanta as a global media powerhouse.

Paramount has acquired Warner Bros. Discovery in a $111 billion deal to become Skydance, under the tutelage of co-CEO David Ellison, who shepherded the deal throughout this year, and his newly named counterpart, Ynon Kreiz.

Skydance now controls both the Warner Bros. and Paramount studios and formidable giants in television: HBO, CBS and dozens of cable brands, from the Atlanta-based TNT, TBS and Cartoon Network, to MTV, Nickelodeon and BET.

It has two major news operations under its belt — CNN and CBS News — and two streaming services, as well as sports licensing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Its intellectual property ranges from DC Comics to the “Harry Potter” and “Mission: Impossible” film franchises.

Upholding all of it are two employee bases and real estate footprints that will be joined together and optimized in the days, months and years to come.

In a statement, Ellison said “ … our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere. Now that ambition is a reality.”

“Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders,” Ellison said. “We couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”

The deal, initially announced in February, unfolded in an almost cinematic fashion, echoing the types of blockbusters Skydance may want to greenlight to reach its goal of theatrically releasing at least 30 films per year.

Warner Bros. went from trying to split itself into two halves, to announcing it was selling one-half of itself to Netflix, to backing out of that deal after Paramount launched a hostile bid to acquire the entirety of the company. This decision was met with outcry from stakeholders across the entertainment industry, alleging it would harm competition and reduce theatrical output.

A coalition of states, not including Georgia, launched an antitrust lawsuit and eventually settled with Paramount, establishing that the merged company must establish a board to ensure the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News and film more projects in the United States, among other provisions.

This is the fifth deal CNN and the former Turner properties have endured over the last 30 years, following Discovery in 2022, AT&T in 2018, AOL in 2001 and Time Warner in 1996, when Turner itself ceased being a purely hometown company. Each deal has shrunk the size of the company’s Atlanta employee base, historically by about 1,000, according to estimates from Ethan Tussey, an associate professor and associate dean of Georgia State University’s College of the Arts.

The Oct. 6 closing was preceded one day by the announcement of a new executive leadership team.

Among the executives remaining with the company are CNN Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Mark Thompson, whose role at the helm of the news organization is not changing.

In a memo to CNN employees reported by CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter, Thompson said he has “real confidence” that executives at Skydance, including Ellison, both understand and will fully support the principle and practice of the kind of independent news “that CNN has always stood for.”

George Cheeks, currently the chair of TV media at Paramount, will now oversee all three television studios under the merged company. In his new role as co-chair and chief content officer of Skydance TV, he will oversee a portfolio that will include TBS, TNT and dozens of other cable networks under both studios, as well as 27 local television stations and Skydance’s global sports group. Channing Dungey, currently the chair and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group and U.S. Networks, will stay on and report to Cheeks.

James Gunn, who has spent quite a lot of time in Atlanta over the years filming “Superman” and its follow-up, will serve as co-chairman of DC Studios with Peter Safran.