David Zaslav Pledges Cost Discipline After WarnerMedia Merger As Streaming ‘Spending Wars’ Intensify

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterFox hopes to greet a big audience with its new small-town docu-comedy “Welcome to Flatch” when the Paul Feig and Jenny Bicks-produced show launches later this week. But if “Flatch” doesn’t bring in the viewers with its linear premiere on Thursday at 9:30 p.m., Fox execs won’t be talking about cutting the mockumentary from the network’s midseason lineup Friday morning.That’s because the broadcast network is launching the first half of the 14-episode Season 1 via Hulu and other digital platforms at midnight on Thursday, and promises it’s not going to be giving much weight to “Welcome to Flatch’s” Live + Same Day Nielsen ratings over those first seven weeks of airing, when the episodes will all be available for streaming well before they rollout weekly on Fox.

Warner Bros Discovery, the company created by merging Discovery Inc. and WarnerMedia, and signed a new employment agreement through the end of 2027.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s total pay package came to more than $246 million for 2021 as the company prepares to close its merger with WarnerMedia.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“The Baby-Sitters Club” has been canceled at Netflix after two seasons, Variety has learned.Based on the best-selling book series by Ann M. Martin, “The Baby-Sitters Club” is a contemporary dramedy that follows the friendship and adventures of seven friends as they start their own babysitting business in Stoneybrook, Connecticut.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery investors voted in approval of the company’s $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T to create Warner Bros. Discovery during a special meeting of stockholders Friday, marking one of the final formal steps before the transaction can close.The deal, a spinoff of WarnerMedia from AT&T, is expected to be completed early in Q2, with insiders telling Variety the estimated date is between April 11-28. The merger has already received approval from the U.S.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWarnerMedia has been owned by telco giant AT&T for less than four years and it will soon have a new parent company — likely by the end of next month.Discovery’s shareholder vote on the acquisition of WarnerMedia is set for today during a special meeting of stockholders set for 10 a.m. ET. The deal is expected to get an easy thumbs-up given the approval already bestowed by Discovery’s oldest and most influential holders, investor John Malone and Advance/Newhouse Co.

Discovery shareholders are set to OK the $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia on Friday, the last big step before AT&T completes the spinoff. Ahead of the deal’s expected close next month, a who’s-in/who’s-out parlor game is gaining intensity as CEO David Zaslav finalizes the leadership team.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDisney CEO Bob Chapek said Wednesday the company is pledging $5 million to the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations protecting LGBTQ rights following backlash to the company’s initial quiet response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, as well as a report that the company has given money to all of the bill’s sponsors. Chapek, who is taking his first public stance against the bill, says he will also be meeting with Republican Gov.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWarnerMedia is “pausing all new business in Russia” amid the country’s continued invasion of Ukraine, CEO Jason Kilar announced Wednesday.“I want to share with each of you a number of decisions we have made with regard to WarnerMedia’s business operations in Russia,” Kilar said in a memo to WarnerMedia staff obtained by Variety. “Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, WarnerMedia is pausing all new business in Russia.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe “Vikings: Valhalla” team is already hard at work on a second and third season following the launch of the Netflix historical drama series.“Valhalla,” a followup to the History Channel’s original series “Vikings,” previously received a 24-episode series order from the streaming service, which Netflix confirms will now be broken into three, eight-episode seasons. Jeb Stuart will return as creator, showrunner and executive producer for both upcoming seasons, along with stars Sam Corlett (Leif Eriksson), Frida Gustavsson (Freydis Eriksdotter) and Leo Suter (Harald Sigurdsson), among others, reprising their roles.“Vikings: Valhalla” chronicles the heroic adventures of some of the most famous Vikings who ever lived — the legendary explorer Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett), his fiery and headstrong sister Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson), and the ambitious Nordic prince Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter).

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterIMDb TV is keeping Judge Judy Sheindlin in session. Amazon’s free streamer has renewed “Judy Justice” for a second season after the first batch of episodes drew 25 million hours viewed by users to date.Sheindlin’s second act after the end of the long-running, iconic daytime series “Judge Judy,” “Judy Justice” launched on IMDb TV last November.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery, Inc. president and CEO David Zaslav was awarded a one-time discretionary bonus of $4.4 million by the company’s board March 1 in honor of his “exceptional leadership” ahead of Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia.Per a Monday SEC filing, “The Board approved the one-time bonus (which is in addition to the 2021 annual bonus that Mr.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterJennifer Lopez’s “Marry Me” is the most-streamed day-and-date movie on Peacock and Will Smith’s gritty “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” reboot “Bel-Air,” which debuted after the Super Bowl last month, is the platform’s top series, Comcast CEO and chairman Brian Roberts said during a Morgan Stanley conference Monday.More to come…

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterTech-centric holding company Ballantyne Strong has launched Strong Studios to create content under the company’s Strong Entertainment division. David Ozer, formerly CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment’s Landmark Studio Group, will serve as president of the new studio.Based in New York, Strong Studios will develop and produce original feature films and television series, as well as acquire third party rights to content for global multiplatform distribution.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe Scott Foley-led drama “The Big Leap” has been canceled after just one season at Fox, Variety has learned.A modern tale about second chances, chasing your dreams and taking back what’s yours,”The Big Leap” revolves around a group of diverse, down-on-their-luck characters attempting to change their lives by participating in a potentially life-ruining reality dance show featuring a modern reimagining of “Swan Lake.”“The Big Leap” starred Scott Foley, Teri Polo, Piper Perabo, Simone Recasner, Kevin Daniels, Ser’Darius Blain, Jon Rudnitsky, Mallory Jansen and Anna Grace Barlow.The drama from creator/executive producer Liz Heldens (“The Passage,” “Friday Night Lights”), director/executive producer Jason Winer (“Modern Family,” “Perfect Harmony”) and executive producer Sue Naegle (“Soundtrack,” “The Plot Against America”) premiered as part of Fox’s fall lineup. It averaged a 0.4 rating among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic and 2.8 million multiplatform viewers throughout its 11-episode run in Nielsen’s Live + Same Day data, which counts a week’s worth of delayed viewing where available.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav dropped his usual quota of names during the company’s quarterly earnings call — John Malone, Jack Welch, Oprah — but one name didn’t come up: Jeff Zucker.

Discovery execs, attuning commentary around recent investor sentiment on streaming, reassured investors this morning that they will not overspend on content as the company merges with WarnerMedia early in the second quarter.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAT&T and Discovery are expecting to close Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia to create new company Warner Bros. Discovery as early as mid-April, Variety has learned.According to two people familiar with the matter, with Discovery’s shareholder vote on the deal — which has already received regulatory approval from the DOJ — set for March 11, the two companies are preparing for a close between April 11-April 28.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Call Me Kat” actress Schuyler Helford’s teen-parenting comedy “Unplanned in Akron” has received a pilot order at CBS.Written by Helford with Emily Wilson (“The Conners”) supervising, the multi-cam project follows two teenagers navigating parenthood in the best way they know how. With a little help from their friends and parents, they’ll learn that mistakes in life don’t have to derail your life – that no matter what age you are, taking care of a child is no joke – but sometimes, you just gotta laugh (or cry) your way through it.Helford is co-executive producing the potential series.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Red vs. Blue,” Monday’s episode of “9-1-1: Lone Star.”Lisa Edelstein is exiting “9-1-1: Lone Star” after playing Gwyneth Morgan, the wife of Rob Lowe’s Chief Owen Strand and the mother of Ronen Rubinstein’s T.K. Strand, for two seasons on the Fox drama, Variety has learned exclusively.Edelstein’s departure was hinted at in the final moments of Monday’s episode of “Lone Star,” when T.K.