A year ago, Paramount Television Studios was shuttered in a cost-cutting move as its parent company prepared to merge with Skydance.
With that deal on the verge of closing, the new Paramount is reviving the Paramount TV Studios name — which will in turn absorb one of the company’s two remaining studio operations as well as the formerly independent Skydance Television.
Skydance TV president Matt Thunell is set to lead Paramount TV Studios, reporting to Dana Goldberg, the newly named co-chair of Paramount Pictures (with Josh Greenstein) and chair of Paramount Television.
Reps for Skydance and Paramount hadn’t returned a request for comment as of publication time.
The reconstituted Paramount TV Studios will house productions currently under Showtime/MTV Entertainment, the home of prolific creator Taylor Sheridan (the Yellowstone-verse, Landman et al), key Showtime series like the Dexter franchise and Yellowjackets, and Netflix’s Emily in Paris, among others. It will also be home to Skydance productions including Prime Video’s Reacher and Cross — which were co-productions with the former Paramount TV Studios.
Paramount announced in August 2024 that PTVS, then led by Nicole Clemens, would shut down. Its productions — including the aforementioned Reacher and Cross and Apple TV+’s Murderbot — moved to CBS Studios. The shutdown was part of a wave of cost-cutting moves, which included hundreds of layoffs, in the year-plus leading up to the merger, which is set to formally close on Aug. 7.
Former Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy previously headed Showtime/MTV Entertainment but will not remain with the merged company after the deal closes. Keith Cox, head of scripted at Showtime/MTV Entertainment, is expected to stay on; Cox has a long working relationship with Sheridan and David C. Glasser, the head of 101 Studios which co-produces Sheridan’s shows and Showtime’s The Agency.
Thunell became president of Skydance TV in late 2022 after nearly eight years at Netflix, where he oversaw development and production of series in the U.S. and Canada.
Former Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks will have CBS Studios in his portfolio as the merged company’s chair of TV media, which also includes the CBS network and the company’s cable channels.
Deadline first reported the news.
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