Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is maintaining its content exec arsenal, confirming a new five-year contract for Casey Bloys, chief content officer at HBO and HBO Max.
Bloys’ previous deal was set to expire by the end of next year, Deadline reported. He has served in his current role for seven years.
This news comes shortly after WBD announced new contracts for CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels and Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer. A company SEC filing – dated July 14 – indicated Campbell’s contract now runs through July 8, 2025, while Wiedenfels’ contract is effective through July 10, 2026.
Both executives will have their base salaries increased. Campbell’s salary will go up from $1.8 million to $2.5 million annually, and Wiedenfels’ salary is to increase to $2 million from $1.7 million per year.
Bloys, Wiedenfels and Campbell were all veterans of WarnerMedia and Discovery before the two companies merged in April. They were among WBD CEO David Zaslav’s executive picks made prior to the transaction’s completion.
WBD renewing these executive contracts is significant, given the company has recently implemented some cost-cutting measures. HBO Max this month halted original series production in several European countries, as part of an initiative to achieve $3 billion in annual cost savings.
A report from The Information last month noted WBD plans to slash its global sales team by as much as 30%, due to a lot of overlapping roles post-merger.
WBD has shown it can move away from potentially unprofitable content, as the company shut down nascent streaming platform CNN+ after only a month of service.
That move complements WBD’s goal of not overspending on content to drive subscriber growth. During the first quarter earnings call, Wiedenfels noted he is working closely with creative and finance teams to assess WBD’s $23 billion content spend.
The goal isn’t to reduce content spend, he said, but rather “be more consistent and efficient in how we allocate our content spend across the entire global portfolio.”
With Bloys still at the helm of HBO Max, WBD can continue bolstering the service’s streaming presence. A fresh Whip Media report indicated HBO Max ranked first – above other leading SVODs – in customer satisfaction and perceived value.
There’s also talk that HBO Max might return to Amazon’s Prime Video Channels, meaning consumers could likely access HBO Max content via the Prime Video app.
WBD isn’t entirely cutting costs on personnel and content spend, either. The company last month tapped TelevisaUnivision’s Luis Silberwasser to spearhead WBD’s sports division. Concerning sports, WBD in May inked a deal with BT to deliver a premium sports offering to the U.K. and Ireland.