Open Letter: David Zazlov, Do The Right Thing

Let me be up front about this, Mr. Zazlov, I have not been the most positive about your tenure at the head of Warner Bros. since the company merged with Discovery. I have not been a fan of the cancellation of movies like Batgirl and I have not been thrilled about the fact that they prioritized titles like Black Adam. The prestige of once storied networks like HBO have been diluted by the sharing of the HBOMax streaming service with Discovery shows and specials. The credibility of the news juggernaut CNN has been tarnished through a misguided attempt to seem “less biased” and the imposition of paywalls on their website. Arguably, the biggest black stain on your record is the culling of originals from your streaming platform to avoid paying residuals to the creatives who made them.

To be fair, we fill very different roles in this space. As a journalist, it is my job to advocate for the consumer and the people who work in the entertainment industry and as CEO, you have a fiduciary duty to your shareholders to act in their best interests. I’m sure every decision there was to that end and not trying to push a political agenda to help your political allies.

Right now, Warner Bros./Discovery is at what can only be described as, without a hint of exaggeration, an inflection point of history. The decision of the final fate for WB/D, especially with the potential of it being sold to another company, has the potential to be one of the most consequential mergers in the history of the United States.

Right now, the three reported bidders are Netflix, Paramount, and Universal. Members of the legislative and executive branch both have thumbed the scale in favor of Paramount and Larry Ellison appears to be relentless in his bids to acquire the company, and do so before Warner Bros. and Discovery are split back into the component parts.

Every totalitarian state, whether it succeeds or fails, has been where this country is right now. Ever single time this has happened, a few well-situated wealthy people who were aligned with the leadership of the country have bought out and consolidated the means of communication. Ellison has already taken control of CBS News and Paramount, but he is also part of the group actively working to acquire TikTok.

If Ellison gets control of WB/D’s assets, his control over what Americans see on television and in movies would extend exponentially. On top of controlling CBS News, he would also have control over CNN. He would have two of the three major children’s programming networks between Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. His control over sports programming would expand to include more NCAA Basketball events, Hockey, and more, not even taking into consideration his recent acquisition of the rights to UFC.

This expansion would be catastrophic for the terrestrial television market because Paramount would own an outsized amount of sports and other shows, allowing them to jack up the rates cable providers would have to pay which would then be passed off to the consumer. Remember, when Disney bought Fox their goal was to also acquire the Fox Sports assets, but regulators did not allow that part of the sale for this specific reason. It should ring through as weird and dangerous that now they are suddenly ok with that kind of acquisition, just because the buyer is an ally of the administration.

I realize there will be regulatory hurdles, I realize that there will be legislative hurdles, but right now, for the good of this country, you cannot sell WB/D to Paramount. It’s not like Comcast or Netflix are necessarily better options, but I know definitively that WB/D would be absolutely catastrophic for the future of this country. Of the two options on the table, Universal would probably be the better option of the two, even though neither are great. Netflix acquiring the assets to WB would end up with them slowly withdrawing from the theatrical release model and the potential collapse of that industry, while Universal acquiring them is marginally better than Paramount because while Universal and Comcast have been donating to the administration, at least NBC isn't bending the knee in the news department or pulling Fallon, Saturday Night Live, or Seth Meyers off the air.

I realize this is probably a waste of time since both Comcast and Netflix are specifically only interested in the Warner Bros. assets, while Paramount is trying to acquire everything. Even if Comcast or Netflix wins out, there is still the possibility that Paramount comes loaded to bear with a new acquisition opportunity for just Discovery. Truth be told, I think you care more about the final determination of Discovery than Warner Bros. because that's the empire you built.

If the appeal to your good nature is not enough, allow me to end on one final note. If you are on board with selling to Paramount because of your political beliefs or social beliefs or through class solidarity, there is little that can be done to stop that but, at the end of the day, history does not look back on people who use their businesses to push a country towards authoritarian states. Keep in mind, however the situation we are currently in turns out, things will one day be put right. On the other side of this, do you want your name to be held in the same regard as some of history’s most notorious traitors and political leaders?

Right now, your legacy has not been set in stone yet. With one decision, you could be known as the man who threw American democracy to the woodchipper, and no matter how you turned around the Food Network or HGTV, that’s all anyone will ever remember.