Don't Panic

You people made me break my hiatus for this one post. I explicitly stated that I did not want to talk about the deal anymore. I'm not entirely talking about it, but there is something that has been grating at me the moment the deal was officially determined. 

Look, I get it. You hate this deal. I really hate this deal. Folks who work at Warner Bros Discovery hate this deal. Even some of the stockholders and board members hate this deal. It's a terrible deal. It's not even sealed. It's not completed. And there's still a chance it might not legally get cleared by most trade commissions and jurisdictions and completely fall apart.

But please hear me out for just a moment. 

I want you folks, especially you animation fans, take the time to actually read this because a huge chunk of you folks is acting like petulant children. Since I have to be the grown-up in the room, I'm going to have to say this.

Paramount Skydance is NOT going to just get rid of Warner Bros programming for MeTV Toons in the foreseeable future.

Because that's stupid and would ultimately cost them MORE in the long run if they sever that contract.

Warner Bros Entertainment has a long-term contract with Weigel Broadcasting to provide programming for and help curate MeTV Toons. This is an ironclad contract and can't be easily broken. Weigel made sure of that when they sealed the deal to launch the network in the first place. 

Otherwise, the network wouldn't have launched. Period.

Weigel knows that WB has a nice library of shows that don't have a broadcast home and are willing to pay to air these shows. What, you didn't think WB just gave MeTV Toons those shows for free, did you? Weigel had to pay WB to get broadcasting rights, much like they had to pay to get broadcast rights to every show on the lineup from other studios. That commitment from Warner Bros was vital in the channel's creation as well as securing deals throughout the country with various affiliate groups nationwide.

Do you know who owns one of those affiliate groups that carry MeTV Toons?

Paramount Skydance.

Through CBS News and Local Stations, Skydance owns MeTV Toons affiliates in Los Angeles (it airs on KCAL+ [9-6] from 7 PM to 4 AM), Sacramento (KMAX 31-6), Detroit (WKBD Detroit 50-7), Tampa Bay (WTOG 44-6), and Miami (WBFS TV33-7). Huge TV markets. Skydance directly benefits from a top-tier lineup on MeTV Toons because they earn ad revenue from the channel as well as residuals from licensing their shows to the channel and would benefit to get MORE with the WB library, and they're not going to want to get rid of THAT revenue stream either. 

Similarly, Skydance has programming from its CBS Studios television library all over Weigel-owned networks including MeTV, Heroes & Icons (H&I), Catchy Comedy, WEST, Start TV, and DABL. By the way, do you know who owns DABL and co-owns Start TV?

Paramount Skydance. 

Weigel operates DABL for Skydance and operates and co-owns Start TV with them as well. I want you to think a little harder on this. Why would you think that Skydance would just remove cartoons from Warner Bros and not cartoons owned by Paramount?  And why do you think they'd remove cartoons from MeTV Toons and not live-action shows from MeTV, H&I, Catchy Comedy, Start TV, or DABL like Perry Mason, Matlock, Hawaii FIve-0, Gunsmoke, Bonanza, The Andy Griffith Show, The Twilight Zone, I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Carol Burnett Show, Mannix, Cannon, Mission: Impossible, The Fugitive, Barnaby Jones, The Honeymooners, The Love Boat, or Star Trek, all of which are on Weigel's flagship network MeTV alone? 

Please make THAT make sense.

Also, do you know what other company has cartoons on MeTV Toons?

Paramount Skydance.

MeTV Toons airs numerous cartoons from the Paramount library, most notably Betty Boop shorts, the non-Harvey-owned Noveltoons, Mighty Mouse and other Terrytoons, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the latter of which has strong slots throughout the day. Why would you think they'd want to give those up AND the Warner Bros library which dominated much of the lineup? 

The folks at Skydance may be repugnant and myopic about much of their business practices, but they're not stupid about the value of the library. Despite... well, everything about this company, the only thing I'll reluctantly take their word for is Skydance valuing the library of Warner Bros Television, and that includes Warner Bros Animation. I honestly don't think they'll step away from third-party outlets that carry those programs. I don't see them stepping away from the Tubi deal, I don't see them rescinding the TCM deal, and I don't see them leaving MeTV and MeTV Toons, especially since these deals are revenue generators that makes money.

Also, take in mind that the current deals are multiyear and aren't ending any time soon. I have to repeat this because sometimes, the simple and obvious things get lost in clutter and blatherskite. 

Warner Bros Animation fans have been through a lot. Like... a lot. Seriously, way too much. Like, so, so much, you guys. And it's pretty damn easy for you guys to go into panicky doomerism mode real fast the moment a grain of sand drops in an hourglass. Especially with this stupid deal that, at the time of this writing (March 2026), has not been finalized in any capacity and could take years to get approval throughout the world. It's going to take a while to happen, IF it even happens, so I'm going to have to ask you guys to do one thing for me.

DON'T PANIC.

I read that in a great comedic sci-fi book a long, long time ago, and it's always been sound advice in moments like this. 

When I began my hiatus the other day, I said, "I don't know what tomorrow will bring. Yesterday's gone, tomorrow's not here nor is it promised. There's only today." Today, at this very moment, at the time of this writing (March 2026), you can watch a rather sizable ton of cartoons on Tubi for free, including Animaniacs, The Powerpuff Girls, Pinky and the Brain, Justice League, Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd 'n Eddy, Teen Titans, Codename: Kids Next Door, and more. You could watch a bunch of shows like Beetlejuice, Silverhawks, Thundarr the Barbarian, Pirates of Dark Water, SWAT Kats, and others on the Cartoon Rewind FAST channel on Prime Video Channels. Looney Tunes has a semi-permanent home on Turner Classic Movies for the next five years at minimum. And you could watch scores of classic cartoons from the Warner Bros, MGM, Fleischer, and Hanna-Barbera libraries on MeTV Toons over-the-air on broadcast television in nearly every major market as well as on DirecTV and Xfinity nationally. 

If you spend your days panicking all the time about what COULD happen, you'll miss out a lot of what IS happening. It's like what Elbert Hubbard said, and Bugs Bunny famously paraphrased, "Don't take life quite too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive." In this case, life is cartoons, and you shouldn't panic over things that haven't happened yet. 

Enjoy today.

And now, I'm back on my hiatus. 

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