Skydance’s new CEO business leadership team, unveiled Monday, is built on shared oversight. Most co-chairs come from the same side of the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery company. The exception in TV is the pairing that matters most for the screen business: George Cheeks as chief content officer and JB Perrette as chief business officer of Skydance TV.
From business partner to content chief
Cheeks spent a decade as a business partner to creative executives — at Universal Cable Productions, Wilshire Studios and NBC Entertainment. His appointment as content chief marks the first time the Harvard Law graduate holds that title, and it caps a long move from legal and business affairs into programming and talent relations.
At MTV Networks, Cheeks drafted deal memos and began script coverage. Later, he ran NBC Late Night business operations, worked closely with Lorne Michaels, and became a trusted liaison to Dick Wolf. Even so, when he was appointed co-president of UCP in 2018, NBCUniversal’s Bonnie Hammer praised his “business savvy,” not his creative credentials.
“We literally could not be more different,” Cheeks said in 2019 about his working relationship with Paul Telegdy at NBC. Now he is cast once more as half of an executive pair, this time as the creative lead.
What Perrette’s combined remit changes
Skydance TV spans three TV studios, Warner Bros. TV, CBS Studios, Paramount TV Studios, CBS and about 30 basic cable networks. Cheeks will focus on programming and marketing; Perrette will oversee ad sales, distribution, content sales and international operations across both DTC and linear businesses.
That dual remit is the structural fix. At both Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, linear and streaming decisions were often split across executives. At WBD, four leaders had to collaborate on similar calls. Perrette’s combined role simplifies decision-making in three areas:
- Carriage: affiliate negotiations increasingly require linear carriers to bundle streaming rights.
- Advertising: buyers packaging linear and digital now face one commercial counterpart.
- Licensing: CBS and Paramount+ were siloed, with Paramount+ often pushing for exclusivity on CBS series.
A holistic structure makes it easier to judge whether a show should stream only on Paramount+ or be licensed to other platforms for revenue that can fund more content. CBS fare, a major in-season viewership driver, is expected to stay largely on Paramount+ until the streamer’s merger with HBO Max is completed in the next couple of years.
The media-planning view
The org chart change won’t shift viewership overnight, but it changes leverage. Buyers should expect more unified linear-streaming ad packages, and producers should watch whether CBS windowing becomes more flexible. The pairing looks odd on paper, but both men bring relevant records: Perrette’s DTC partnership with Casey Bloys, and Cheeks’ ability to work with demanding creative talent.
Source: Deadline
