George Cheeks, the remaining Paramount Global co-CEO, is positioned to assume expanded responsibilities overseeing Skydance’s television studio operations following the company’s merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. His expanded portfolio would include oversight of Warner Bros. Television Studios and Paramount Television Studios, in addition to his current responsibilities managing CBS Studios and Paramount’s linear television channels.
Cheeks previously served in an interim capacity as part of “the office of the CEO” alongside Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy after former CEO Bob Bakish’s departure during the sale process that led to Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount. In November of last year, Paramount and Skydance restructured the linear television business under Cheeks’ oversight, consolidating cable networks BET, Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon under his authority.
According to reports, Cheeks’ priorities in the expanded role will focus on operational stability, organizational restructuring, and revenue optimization from the combined television assets. The strategy includes significant cost reductions across the company, with anticipated revenue harvesting from carriage fees to be redirected toward streaming initiatives and debt repayment.
The merged entity will operate under regulatory constraints imposed by a consent decree with 12 states that challenged aspects of Ellison’s acquisition. The agreement requires that Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery cable channels negotiate affiliate agreements independently, including separate negotiations for Comedy Central, MTV, BET, Nickelodeon on the Paramount side and HGTV, Food Network, TNT, CNN, and Discovery on the Warner Bros. Discovery side.
The transaction is scheduled to close next week, following which the combined company will adopt the Skydance name. The announcement coincided with reports that Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who serve as Warner Bros. film executives, are departing the organization.
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