George Cheeks Addresses Paramount Global Shakeup, Company Morale At CBS Schedule Reveal

Lioness — the Taylor Sheridan drama starring Zoe Saldaña and Laysla De Oliveira — has been renewed for a second season by Paramount+.

Lexi Carson “CSI: Vegas” may be canceled, but CBS isn’t giving up on the franchise. The Eye network announced Tuesday a new edition in the “CSI” universe — but this time in the unscripted space. CBS has ordered the unscripted, true-crime docuseries “The Real CSI: Miami” based on the drama “CSI: Miami,” which aired from 2002 to 2012 (for 10 seasons and 232 episodes).

Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav largely evaded questions about NBA talks and Paramount Global‘s potential as a WBD merger partner, but he did weigh in on the hot topic of executive pay.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Warner Bros. Discovery is staying on the sidelines of the Paramount Global acquisition drama — at least for now. That was the signal sent Monday by WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav during his appearance at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Paramount Global goes back to playing the field this week with two suitors still pursuing the company that has been surrounded by a highly public M&A drama for months. And it’s unlikely to end any time soon. The company reached the end of its 30-day exclusive negotiating window with Skydance Media on May 3 without coming to an agreement.

Warren Buffett says he has sold all of his shares in Paramount Global at a significant loss.

Paramount Global says Chris McMarthy is the company’s “interim principal executive officer,” a necessity required by the SEC that apparently does not signal he has more decision-making power among a trio of top executives who stepped up to replace Bob Bakish this week in a new Office of the CEO.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UPADTED: After months of M&A talks, Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone might be going it alone after all — for now. Insiders tell Variety that the expectation at the company is that neither of the two offers in play — Skydance Media-RedBird Capital Partners and Sony Pictures Entertainment-Apollo Global Management — will come to fruition. And Redstone is said to have reluctantly concluded that a deal with David Ellison’s Skydance, a longtime partner of Paramount Pictures, will not be possible.

The clock is ticking down to midnight, the end of a month-long exclusive negotiating window between Paramount Global and Skydance Media. The David Ellison company has been circling Paramount for months and lobbed several offers to buy out Shari Redstone‘s controlling stake, backed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital.

For the first time this year, CBS did not order any pilots during the traditional pilot season window. And it may not be the last.

CBS today became the first broadcast network to present its fall schedule. And, in line with CBS’ new strategy for long-term development and planning, the network announced its schedule for the entire 2024-25 season. It is contingent on IATSE making a new deal with the studios to avoid a strike. At the unveiling of the schedule, George Cheeks, President and CEO of CBS, said that they have contingency plans should a work stoppage occur but wouldn’t elaborate further. “If we need to delay, we are ready,” he said.

No second chances are coming for So Help Me Todd, CSI: Vegas and NCIS: Hawaii. But good news for CSI fans: there is another iteration in active development.

Paramount Global, which is in the midst of corporate upheaval on a number of fronts, got a slight reprieve in one key area, extending carriage negotiations with Charter Communications.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amid Paramount Global’s removal of Bob Bakish as CEO and the ongoing uncertainty of a company sale, it was business as usual for the first quarter at the media conglomerate — which included a $1.3 billion charge for content write-offs as well as layoffs. Paramount Global reported Q1 2024 earnings Monday, announcing Bakish’s exit and the installation of an unusual three-in-a-box “Office of the CEO”: CBS’s George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks, and Paramount Pictures’ Brian Robbins.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The three Paramount Global executives installed to run the company after Bob Bakish was removed as CEO sought to reassure employees that they have a long-term strategy. On Monday, Paramount Global said Bakish was stepping down as CEO and leaving the board. In his place, the company established an “Office of the CEO” committee led by three divisional heads: George Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, president and CEO, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, president and CEO of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor The recent broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII boosted Paramount Global‘s first quarter of 2024, stabilizing advertising revenue at its TV operations, as the company’s streaming operations added more than 3 million subscribers and cut losses there by more than 40%. Overall, Paramount narrowed its first quarter operating losses while seeing a 6% uptick in revenue, due in large part to audience and advertiser interest in its Big Game presentation, which set a new viewing record.

After trying to reassure Wall Street with their brief opening remarks at the Paramount Global earnings call, the trio executives named to the newly formed Office of the CEO looked to do the same with the company’s employees rattled by the sudden ouster of longtime CEO Bob Bakish amid sale negotiations with Skydance.

George Cheeks, Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy, the Paramount Global executives chosen to occupy the Office of the CEO as a replacement for the departing Bob Bakish, sought to reassure Wall Street on Monday that they have a plan.

Paramount Global‘s CEO Bob Bakish is out. The executive who has been a presence at several iterations of the company since 1997 will exit, effective immediately. A triumvirate of division heads — Brian Robbins, George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy — will step in to lead the company for now in a new office of the CEO.

David Ellison’s Skydance has presented Paramount Global board’s special committee with a revised offer to take control of the company, Deadline has learned. Terms weren’t immediately available, story will be updated when they are. The new proposal is likely designed to make a deal more palatable to Paramount investors beyond controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, something that her family holding company NAI had requested.