HBO content boss Casey Bloys inks new five-year contract

Succession

Casey Bloys, chief content officer for HBO and HBO Max, has inked a new five year contract at the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) brands.

Retaining Bloys, who has been with HBO since 2004, for the foreseeable future will offer some stability and continuity for the network and its streaming service at an uncertain time which has seen WBD jettison numerous high-level execs in the restructure following its recent merger.

US reports suggest that Bloys’ existing pact had been due to run out late 2023/early 2024, but has been superseded by a deal that begins around now and runs for the next five years. During his tenure, HBO has launched numerous global hits such as black comedy dramas Succession and Barry and teen drama Euphoria.

Last week, WBD announced new contracts for two other senior executives — CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, through to July 2026, and chief revenue and strategy officer Bruce Campbell, to July 2025.

HBO Max has revealed some big changes to its strategy in recent weeks, with the streamer halting development of local original productions in the Nordics, Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey.

The move comes as part of a global strategic review following the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger, and subsequent moves to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single service.

WBD confirmed to TBI that its global roll-out of HBO Max has ended as a result, and exclusively shared that previously announced launches in Iceland, Turkey, Greece and the Baltics have been scrapped.

The media giant is seeking to make $3bn of savings within two years, with other recent moves including the closure of short-lived streamer CNN+, the scrapping of roles and content at TNT and TBS, plans to overhaul DC Entertainment, and the aforementioned executive exits.