Warner Bros.

Veteran programming executives and rising talk show talent from Debmar-Mercury, Telepictures, Allen Media Group, E! News and Fox Television Stations will discuss the timeless essentials of a good talker and the more unconventional — and multiplatform — ways of thinking that will take the genre forward in a panel at TVNewsCheck’s Programming Everywhere conference at the NAB Show on April 14. Register here.

While it is unclear exactly which assets are on the table, a source says that the rights to “slightly less than half” of the catalog, with a price of around $500 million, are likely to go to a major label, with Sony said to be in the lead.

The yanking of Westworld and Love Life from the streamer is designed to appease Wall Street, not consumers, one expert says.

Nancy Daniels, who oversees the Turner networks and a number of Discovery channels, and Jane Latman, the HGTV veteran who is also in charge of Food Network, are the latest execs out at Warner Bros. Discovery. It is believed that Daniels and Latman’s exits come as part of the latest restructure within the David Zaslav-run company. (Image of Nancy Daniels)

Program participants will be mentored and trained, with a paid mentorship and training program scheduled over a three-month period beginning Sept. 6. The curriculum focuses on developing skills for professional careers as on-camera digital content creators, going beyond independent content creation to give participants experience working on professional video sets. (Image: Rooster Teeth, WBD)

Maghen will oversee all engineering and technological aspects of the company, including strategy, as the new mobile app for creative talent discovery in media and entertainment continues its launch. The app is currently in an invite-only beta stage. (Photo: Husslup)

Netflix is seeking to amend its programming deals with major entertainment studios to allow the streaming giant to put content on an advertising-supported version of the service, people familiar with the matter said. Among the studios Netflix has begun talks with are Warner Bros., which makes the hit stalker drama You; Universal, producer of the dark comedy Russian Doll; and Sony Pictures Television, producer of The Crown and Cobra Kai, the people said.

Los Angeles County’s daily tally of new COVID cases has topped 8,000 for the first time since January and, like many local industries, Hollywood is not immune. Warner Bros. has recorded what may be the biggest showbiz outbreak of the pandemic, with 31 employees listed as infected on the official L.A. County Public Health Department website.

At the Promax Station Summit this week in Las Vegas, Warner Bros., which is distributing The Jennifer Hudson Show, wowed an audience of local TV creative services and marketing directors with a presentation that included an appearance by the newest EGOT winner herself.

As if Jennifer Hudson’s week can’t get any better, the newly-minted EGOT is about to add another title to her resumé: talk show host. Hudson’s upcoming show, titled The Jennifer Hudson Show, has been cleared in more than 95% of the country, now officially heading into national syndication this fall. The series will debut on Sept. 12 with the Fox TV stations as its core station group.

Oscar winner and American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson is adding something completely different to her resume: Talk show host. Hudson, most recently seen on the big screen playing Aretha Franklin in “Respect,” is pitching a new daytime talker to be produced by the team from The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Although not technically an Ellen replacement — her show wouldn’t be a continuation of the Ellen deals and is being shopped as an entirely new series — it would be positioned as Warner Bros. TV’s new flagship daytime talk show now that Ellen is ending its run.

Wonder Woman is due for yet another spin, following the Gal Gadot-led film sequel’s solid performance both at the traditional (yet not) box office and with its simultaneous release on HBO Max. Warner Bros. Pictures announced on Sunday that it has fast-tracked development on a follow-up to Wonder Woman 1984, which will be written by franchise vet Patty Jenkins (left), who is again attached to direct.

The town is mad about the studio’s decision to put movies on HBO Max and in theaters at the same time. But with a telecom giant running an entertainment company, things were bound to get weird.

Among the myriad release plan changes wrought by the pandemic, no studio has so fully embraced streaming as a lifeline. But after disappointing domestic ticket sales for “Tenet,” and with the majority of U.S. theaters currently closed, Warner Bros. will turn to a hybrid distribution model. Films will debut simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in the U.S. After one month, they will stop streaming and continue to play only in theaters.

The AT&T-owned company is seeking to reduce costs by as much as 20% as the pandemic drains income from movie tickets, cable subscriptions and TV ads, according to people familiar with the matter.

“I am both concerned and disappointed by public reports regarding patterns of unacceptable behavior that have been raised in recent weeks,” WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar told staff in an email on Thursday. In another memo, Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff said she had also “empowered, and will hold accountable, the Studios and Networks HR and Legal teams to act on any issues that are brought to them. These groups are a safe harbor where you can register any concerns.”

There’s little chance that either Ellen DeGeneres or Warner Bros. will walk away from a staple of daytime TV that has flourished for almost two decades. Look for a carefully-orchestrated mea culpa and a triumphant return — she’s too good an actress for any other outcome.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show‘s host, Ellen DeGeneres, and studio, Warner Bros., have spoken out about the recent complaints against the workplace environment on the popular daytime syndicated talk show. In a statement on behalf of WB and DeGeneres, the studio confirmed that it has conducted an internal inquiry, interviewing current and former Ellen employees about their experience following a recent BuzzFeed report alleging a toxic work culture on the show.

AT&T’s Warner Bros. unit has hired Disney exec Tom Ascheim as president of global kids, young adults and classics at Warner Bros. Ascheim, who had headed Freeform at Disney, will be responsible for global strategy for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang, managing the Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. animation studios and overseeing Turner Classic Movies.

Dee Dee Myers will exit her post at Warner Bros as executive vp of worldwide corporate communications and public affairs. Myers joined Hollywood from the world of politics, previously serving as the White House press secretary to Bill Clinton. She has been with the studio for five years.

As WarnerMedia’s streamer HBO Max preps for a May launch, a new film division will become a direct pipeline — and could spark awkward internal politics.

Movie studio Warner Bros. and HBO Max are launching a new division that will specialize in making movies specifically for streaming, the companies said Wednesday. The unit is designed to produce films for HBO Max, the upcoming streaming service owned by the Burbank-based studio’s parent company, AT&T Inc. The new division is expected to make eight to 10 films a year for the direct-to-consumer platform, which launches in May.

The market for physical discs has evaporated. So Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. are looking for a way to save the format.

Warner Bros. chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff on Wednesday unvieled the studio’s refreshed brand with a new logo that is now on the Burbank, Calif., lot’s storied water tower. The new logo is a refinement and modernization of the Warner Bros shield that has been part of the studio’s identity since its founding in 1923.

The Ann Sarnoff era at Warner Bros. has begun. Sarnoff formally took the reins as Warner Bros. chair-CEO on Thursday, two months after she was appointed to the post. Sarnoff told employees in a memo that she has been impressed by the company’s track record during the past year amid a period of upheaval for the industry in general and Warner Bros. in particular.

BBC executive Ann Sarnoff is the first woman to lead the 96-year-old Warner Bros. She  succeeds Kevin Tsujihara, who left in March following misconduct allegations.

The Wall Street Journal reports that AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia is discussing plans to package HBO, sister channel Cinemax and its vast Warner Bros. TV and movie library into a streaming service costing between $16 and $17 a month, according to people familiar with the matter, a strategy aimed at keeping the media giant competitive against lower-priced offerings in a crowded field. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.