Scorsese, Spielberg, And Paul Thomas Anderson Will Help Curate TCM As WB Discovery Rehires Key Programmer

TCM is a relatively small part of the WBD empire, but one that got caught in the crosshairs as the company looks to chip away at its massive pile of debt. Following the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery, David Zaslav has been militant about cost-cutting, no matter how unpopular some of his measures seem to be. However, gutting TCM was a bridge too far. Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson, among many others, were not happy about it. An emergency Zoom call between Zaslav and the filmmakers seems to have helped. Again, for now anyway.

A big part of the problem is that TCM is a cable network that makes the bulk of its money through cable subscription fees. The network doesn’t run ads and has very little presence on streaming, save for a hub on Max. As cord-cutting continues to accelerate, the network’s profits will only continue to shrink. So, inevitably, WBD will have to reassess the financials at some point again in the not-too-distant future. Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy added:

“TCM is a cultural treasure, and we are honored to help steer the future direction of this beloved brand with the partnership of three of the most iconic filmmakers of our time.”

TCM is a wildly important tool in the digital age for classic film preservation and appreciation. So many of these films wouldn’t have a home otherwise, particularly in the streaming era when so much stuff gets lost in the shuffle. For Warner Bros., it should be an investment in the cultural significance of classic film. Even if this is just a bandaid, at least Zaslav was willing to listen to the outcry and scale back his plans to all but destroy the network. TCM lives on.