Warner Bros. TV Group laid off 82 staffers on Wednesday. WB Animation and Cartoon Network Studios will be brought under the same division. Here’s what it means for Cartoon Network’s future.
On Wednesday, Warner Bros. TV Group laid off 82 staffers across scripted, unscripted, and animation divisions, a Warner Bros. representative confirmed to Polygon. The company will leave 43 of the currently unfilled positions empty. While the three brand labels Warner Bros. Animation (WBA), Cartoon Network Studios (CNS), and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe will remain distinct, WBA and CNS development and production teams will be brought under one division.
According to Deadline, Warner Bros. has also stepped back on its initial decision to shutter the Warner Bros. Television Workshop, which was designed to foster new talent and provide a pipeline that many in the animation industry have cited as invaluable in helping marginalized creators break into a highly competitive field. The workshop will be moved to Discovery’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion unit.
These changes at Cartoon Network Studios come at a time when some of its cartoons have already become harder to track down and watch. The cuts also arrive on the heels of Discovery’s acquisition of Warner Media from AT&T. HBO Max and Discovery Plus are set to become one streaming service in 2023. After taking over in April, CEO David Zaslav, who previously ran Discovery, pledged to cut $3 billion from the company, and he’s taken an aggressive approach to get there.
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Zaslav has made good on the promise, and mainly in the area of genre entertainment. In August, Discovery laid off 14% of HBO Max staff and canceled the Batgirl movie. Later that month, beloved cartoons were yanked from HBO Max, blindsiding the cartoons’ creators. Dozens of Sesame Street episodes were taken off of the streaming platform, and other shows were totally removed — including fan favorite OK K.O.! – Let’s Be Heroes, as well as Infinity Train, which ran for four seasons and is no longer airing on Cartoon Network. (It can luckily still be found on other streaming services.) Other shows like Summer Camp Island and Victor and Valentino still air on Cartoon Network, even if you can’t find them on HBO’s streaming service.
