Kathleen Finch, the outgoing Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros Discovery‘s networks business, has warned her peers against defining themselves as “cable” executives.
During an on-stage interview at Content London, Finch said that while cable remains a “50% margin business,” the industry should “stop using the word cable” in the future. Instead, execs should focus on content creation and less on the distribution route.
“We should stop limiting ourselves to calling ourselves cable execs that make cable content,” she added. “That’s going away at some point, so what we all are is creatives. You make content, then you put it on these different places and the audience chooses to watch it whichever place they happen to prefer.”
Finch will soon hand over the reigns at WBD’s networks business to Channing Dungey, having announced her end-2025 retirement in August. When Warner Bros and Discovery merged, she had been leading the latter’s lifestyle cable bouquet, including TLC and HGTV. She has since added Adult Swim and Cartoon Network, as well as TNT and TBS.
Giving an assessment of the business she is leaving, the former Discovery lifestyle channels chief said: “Is the cable business going to grow? No, of course not. It is a platform decision people make that they would prefer to watch content on a platform of their choosing.”
However, rather than “lamenting” the fact cable is no longer a growth business, network execs should continue to find new ideas, and “Where it goes is almost out of our hands.”
However, Finch noted cable was still a “50% margin” business that “is not going to go away in the near future,” even though “people are not going to go out and get cable subscriptions that they don’t have right now,” she said.
She noted that streaming audiences are finding WBD’s true crime content, giving programming a second audience. “Half of ID content is not viewed on ID but Max,” she said.
Similarly, shows such as 90 Day Fiance were finding streaming audiences, she said. “They’ll be watched in huge numbers on the linear platform by a slightly older audience, and then it’s on Max, and suddenly a lot of younger 30-year-olds who don’t have cable are being exposed to it. What we’re getting is the opportunity to build a brand new audience that is just as passionate as the cable audience.”
