Dungey, Bloys, Finch to top leadership team of merged Warner Bros Discovery

The leadership team for Warner Bros Discovery has been announced, ahead of the closure of the merger between US factual giant Discovery and WarnerMedia, with big roles for Channing Dungey, Casey Bloys and Kathleen Finch.

David Zaslav

The new venture will be led by David Zaslav as CEO, with Jason Kilar announcing earlier this week he was stepping down as CEO of WarnerMedia. A host of other WarnerMedia execs, including Ann Sarnoff and Andy Forssell, swiftly followed him through the door this week.

Zaslav today unveiled the senior team that will take charge of the merged entity once the deal has closed, with Casey Bloys maintaining his role as chief content officer of premium cablenet HBO and streamer HBO Max and Channing Dungey continuing as chairman of Warner Bros Television Group.

Kathleen Finch, chief lifestyle brands officer at Discovery, will assume a newly created role of chairman and chief content officer of the US Networks Group. This new consolidated group will comprise the company’s 40-plus US Networks.

Nancy Daniels, chief content officer for Discovery Factual Networks, will report to Finch, as will Brett Weitz, general manager of TBS, TNT and truTV, and Tom Ascheim, president of Warner Bros Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, on the network side of his responsibilities. Finch will retain oversight for the Discovery Lifestyle Networks.

Kathleen Finch

JB Perrette, formerly president and CEO of Discovery Streaming and International, will assume the role of CEO and president of Warner Bros Discovery Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment, with responsibility for HBO Max and Discovery+, as well as all direct-to-consumer and gaming around the world. David Haddad, president of Warner Bros Games, will report to Perrette.

Gerhard Zeiler will be president of international, with responsibility for the company’s businesses across more than 200 territories. He has held the same role for WarnerMedia and now adds responsibility for Discovery’s international footprint.

As previously announced, Chris Licht is succeeding Jeff Zucker atop cable news network CNN as chairman and CEO.

Bruce Campbell will assume the new role of chief revenue and strategy officer, with responsibility for US ad sales, distribution revenue and content licensing; global corporate development and strategy; global streaming platform agreements; and the company’s legal affairs. He was previously Discovery’s chief development, distribution and legal officer.

JB Perrette

Toby Emmerich continues as chairman of Warner Bros Pictures Group, with responsibility for Warner Bros Pictures, New Line Cinema, DC-based films and Warner Bros Feature Animation.

David Leavy will be chief corporate affairs officer, overseeing key business functions and groups, including corporate relations, global government relations and public policy, corporate marketing, global communications, corporate research, events and social responsibility.

The company says it will name a new chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at a later date. It is also searching to fill the role of chair and CEO for Warner Bros Discovery Sports, reporting to the CEO. Lenny Daniels, president of Turner Sports and Patrick Crumb, president of regional sport networks, will report to this position.