Casey Bloys dodged questions of whether or not he would run Paramount streaming as the $110 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery closed.
Bloys’ appearance at Bloomberg Screentime in Los Angeles on Thursday comes just days after the HBO boss was announced to run the combined HBO Max and Paramount+ streamer, with Paramount streaming head Cindy Holland stepping down ahead of the $110 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.
When asked if he would run Paramount in Holland’s absence, the executive avoided answering directly.
“Not mine to confirm. Deal is not closed,” Bloys said. “But obviously, you know, yes.”
He seemingly confirmed reporting that Holland leaving keeps the role open for him. Bloys did not comment on whether or not his contract would be renewed when it comes up next year.
Bloys also subtly shaded Apple when Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw asked him his thoughts on the tech company winning more Emmys than HBO this year.
“Did they? Was that covered?” Bloys joked. “Whether I have more nominations than anybody else, which we got this year … that doesn’t change the shows we’re going to do.”
The chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content said that he called the leaders at Apple TV to congratulate them, but added that a quick look at the records from the last 20 years highlighted HBO’s dominance.
The executive did not comment exactly on if HBO and Paramount would be bundled or merged, but he pointed to the HBO Max and Disney bundle as a “successful” example of what the partnership could look like.
Shaw asked specifically if “John from Cincinnati,” “Vinyl” or “The Idol” was the biggest bust for the television studio.
“All of those shows probably did not live up to expectations,” Bloys said. “But you take chances, you take big swings. Some of them are insane. Some of them work. Maybe those three didn’t.”
