Dungey to Lead Combined Paramount-WBD Cable Networks — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Channing Dungey is set to add oversight of Paramount's cable networks to her existing post leading Warner Bros. Discovery's US Networks, reporting to George Cheeks on both the studio and cable sides.
- The Paramount cable portfolio she would absorb includes the "core four" — MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and BET — plus VH1, Paramount Network, TV Land, CMT, Pop TV and Logo TV, on top of her current 15+ WBD brands spanning Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, TLC, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies.
- George Cheeks is expanding to oversee the combined company's TV Studios and linear networks including cable and CBS, making WBTV president Dungey, Paramount Television Studios president Matt Thunell and CBS Studios president David Stapf his direct reports.
- The structure mirrors Skydance's broader streamlining: Casey Bloys leads streaming (HBO Max and Paramount+), while Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg head the combined film studios under CEO David Ellison.
- Skydance is poised to unveil the official executive structure early next week, timed to Paramount's acquisition of WBD closing Oct. 6; reps for both Paramount and WBD TV declined comment.
- Since picking up cable oversight at the end of 2024, Dungey has presided over concrete ratings gains — Shark Week 2026's biggest growth in over a decade, Puppy Bowl's largest audience in eight years, Food Network's first quarter of ratings growth in five years (Q1 2026), and HGTV's strongest year-over-year gains in nearly two decades — with programming synergies including a Bachelor Mansion crossover on HGTV and The Pitt season 1 airing on TNT.
Why it matters: Stacking Dungey over more than two dozen linear brands at a moment when traditional cable faces structural pressure effectively kills the WBD cable-spinoff plan floated before Skydance emerged as a buyer. Skydance is betting the executive who just delivered Shark Week's best growth in a decade and HGTV's strongest gains in nearly 20 years is the best defense against cord-cutting, rather than selling these networks off.
Ask SkimNews
