Blair will “will transition over the summer and partner closely” with Zeiler “to further empower” WBD’s content licensing team, according to Zeiler. The move is being described as “a necessary structural change to our team design that both flattens and streamlines the Content Licensing organization.”
“Last year, we unveiled a new org structure for International, which we believed best positioned us for success at that time,” said Zeiler. “But we also acknowledged that in an ever-changing industry and market, we would need to continue to evolve in a thoughtful and strategic way, along with the climate around us.
“Seven months into 2023, although we remain confident about our trajectory as a business, we are at another inflection point, and one where the global economy has not rebounded as quickly as we had hoped.
“As such, today I’m announcing that Robert Blair, President, WBD International TV Distribution, will be departing WBD.”
Blair has been with WBD and its Warner Bros predecessor companies for a quarter of a century, overseeing the International sales strategy for major titles such as Game of Thrones, The Flash and House of the Dragon.
He joined Warner Bros International Television Distribution in 1998 as General Manager, Canadian Operations. He had previously served as Director of Television, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.
Blair was promoted to lead WarnerMedia’s international sales division in 2019 under worldwide distribution boss Jeffrey Schlesinger and kept his role in last year’s restructure, which followed the Discovery merger and creation of WBD. Schlesinger departed in 2020.
Zeiler’s note today said his departure was “no reflection of his performance” and was instead “a shift we need to make to continue to refine our efficiency and cost structure.”
“My humble thanks to Robert for his outstanding leadership, talent, and effort to help us get where we are today,” wrote Zeiler. “Robert’s contribution to the company in his 25 years has been outstanding and can be measured in several billions of dollars of sales-contracts he made possible every single year. Despite being known as tough negotiator, he is respected by all of his clients he dealt with. He is also an exceptional leader, who mentored many talents within the company and is admired and valued by his team.”
Zeiler is writing from experience — he will have sat at opposite sides of the table to Blair during his time at the helm of RTL, which was a major buyer of Warner content during his time running the European networks group.
Source: Deadline
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