Screentime

Warner Bros.’ David Zaslav Tried to Rebrand HBO. It Didn’t Work.

Warner Bros. Discovery had a plan to turn HBO into Netflix. Here’s where it went wrong.

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, speaks at the Allen & Co. Media & Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, last July.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

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By Lucas Shaw

May 18, 2025 at 10:30 PM UTC

Good afternoon from Los Angeles. It’s good to be home. I’ve just returned from New York, where I visited Saturday Night Live, saw Succession star Sarah Snook on Broadway and attended a Lady Gaga concert (aka YouTube’s upfront presentation to advertisers).

I am going to break down the biggest news from the upfronts in a moment, but first…