“All is well,” a headline read in January as hosts of the Turner Classic Movies channel assuaged fans’ fears following upheaval under CEO David Zaslav’s watch at Warner Bros. Discovery. Six months later, TCM’s top executives — including 25-year veteran Pola Changnon — are out and the cable channel’s future (and, for many, the future of classic film) seems entirely uncertain.
This week’s changes will see the number of employees at TCM slashed from about 90 to about 20, according to insiders, with the responsibilities of overseeing the network distributed among other units under the WBD umbrella. Meanwhile, budgets have already been progressively cut at the network, leading many to wonder what the future will bring.