TL85: What if Warner didn't lose its cable networks?

[captain-wacky]

"ah sweet, another Warner Bros. AU, as if FoxWarner wasn't enough..."


well, let me tell you something…

...this AU is completely different from that one.

So... Atari just so happened to get nuked thanks to the video game crash and its licensed E.T. video game IRL.

and not only did that crash completely destroy many home consoles (the NES didn't come around until 1985), but Warner Communications as well.

and said crash hurt Warner's financial status so bad that they had to sell Warner-AMEX Cable (which comprised MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, and The Movie Channel) to Viacom and merge with Time Inc. a little bit later to form Time Warner.

but what if that crash didn't happen at all, well, we'd have a completely different media landscape than the one we have now.

 

[captain-wacky]

"ah sweet, another Warner Bros. AU, as if FoxWarner wasn't enough..."


well, let me tell you something…

...this AU is completely different from that one.

So... Atari just so happened to get nuked thanks to the video game crash and its licensed E.T. video game IRL.

and not only did that crash completely destroy many home consoles (the NES didn't come around until 1985), but Warner Communications as well.

and said crash hurt Warner's financial status so bad that they had to sell Warner-AMEX Cable (which comprised MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, and The Movie Channel) to Viacom and merge with Time Inc. a little bit later to form Time Warner.

but what if that crash didn't happen at all, well, we'd have a completely different media landscape than the one we have now.

let us begin with, well, Warner Communications...

so around 1982, Atari and Universal were planning to sign a deal to create a video game based on Steven Spielberg's E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial, but said film's director, Steven Spielberg, comes right in and tries to stop this deal from happening.

Atari didn't budge at first, but Spielberg negotiated with Atari's board that this game could be bad and later on, agreed with Spielberg; but meanwhile at Universal, their executives still wanted the E.T. video game to happen, and decides to sign the deal with Coleco instead, which was so bad (both financially and critically) that it got Coleco nuked and forced out of the gaming industry. (credit to Amir for this idea)

and now that Atari has avoided a major bullet, Warner Communications is currently in a safe place and is preparing a huge 10-year plan that would be executed in 1989.

 

[captain-wacky]

alright, here's what I've been cooking up as of lately:

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Project Millennium
Warner Communications' long term plan for growth
1989: acquire and successfully bid for Home Box Office, Inc.
1990: begin corporate restructuring
1991: expand budget for cable networks and television studios
1991: acquire pre-1950 library from Turner
1991: begin negotiations with station owners to start a new broadcast network (or in case if that fails, acquire an established network with its own set of programming. we'll get to that a little bit later)
1992: upgrade cable service facilities
1992: sign new artists at Warner Music's labels
1992: complete corporate restructure
1993: open new publishing division using the facilities of DC Comics (DC would remain unaffected)
1993: acquire Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc. and begin to leverage their themed entertainment parks
1994: start new label for independent films
1995: open new game development studio in San Diego (it would be around <20 employees)
1995: revamp main studio facilities to include new digital equipment and more sets and offices
1996: a big-budget Looney Tunes feature film starring a popular celebrity, which would, ITTL become a true reboot for Looney Tunes as a whole
1997: a new and original animated series produced by a certain animator that used to work on Rocko's Modern Life for Nickelodeon
1997: start up a new division focused on digital entertainment
1997: increase film schedule for new independent label
1998: increase cable service facilities and introduce it across various territories
1998: spin off Six Flags
1998: spin off cable service for IPO
1999: begin expanding San Diego game development studio to produce a new game for next gen consoles.
Post-90s (WIP)
acquire a decently-sized video game company with a sizable amount of IP
​

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so basically, it was a plan conducted by WCI boss, Steve Ross in 1989 during their acquisition of HBO at the time, whose vision then continued to be passed on by Richard Parsons and Jeff Bewkes.

WCI's plan was a complete re-invention of Warner Bros. for the modern age, such as adapting itself to modern technology to re-introducing its characters for the modern age (alongside some new ones as well.)

And it worked for Warner Bros, as it actually got them in a good state instead of being fucked by a certain internet company, which would've saved them from their financial curse that continued to persist for many years OTL.

 

[captain-wacky]

and you may be thinking, what would happen to Ted Turner ITTL?

it's simple, he merges his company with rival cable company Viacom.

so basically, after Turner failed to get HBO, (and after Viacom failed to get MTV, Nick and TMC from WCI), Ted Turner's media company had no option to live, at all, I mean, outside this timeline, TBS didn't have HBO at the time and his media company kinda lived, but here, in this timeline, everybody was so fucking desperate for HBO because Columbia were interested in it, which caused the whole-ass bidding war and Time Inc. splitting itself apart.

but Ted sought other options and found Showtime, which was owned by Viacom.

at first, he negotiated with Sumner Redstone, which was the CEO of Viacom at the time, to kindly sell Showtime to him, Sumner initially refused, but Ted kept wanting to discuss a possible merger with his company and Viacom.

Sumner and Ted both came to an agreement and decided to merge his company's assets with Viacom's, and eventually getting promoted to board member.

and of course, Viacom sets up the Cartoon Network with the libraries of MGM and Terrytoons, and eventually acquires CBS and Paramount Pictures (and UPN), along with investing in the small-sized conglomerate DreamWorks SKG and the Japanese gaming giant SEGA.

(UPN would somewhat exist as this timeline's equivalent of The CW, but without all of the Warner glitz.)

 

[captain-wacky]

Tele-Communications Inc., MCA and News Corporation announce partnership to launch new premium cable multichannel​

November 12, 1989, NEW YORK CITY​

on November 12, 1989, Tele-Communications Inc (NASDAQ: TCOMA), MCA, and News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) have announced their partnership to launch a premium cable multichannel service that each company would partake in a 33% stake.

The new service would be named "Encore", and it would feature movies from the 60's, 70's and 80's, with hits from two of the world's biggest studios, Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox.



Encore would have 8 channels: Action, True Stories & Drama, Love Stories, WAM!, Mystery, Westerns, and Starz! And Encore's set to launch on 23 September, 1990 on TCI systems and on the 28th, on other cable providers.

 

[captain-wacky]

uhh... so Warner Communications had lost interest in launching their own broadcast network, as their recent talks with Tribune Broadcasting had just fell through and are currently looking to acquire a pre-established network.

ABC-Capital Cities, General Electric and the Westinghouse Electric Group are currently in the process of submitting bids to Warner Communications, and the highest, winning bidder will be revealed tomorrow... so stay tuned, folks!

 

[captain-wacky]

Warner Communications, Inc. announces intent to acquire NBC from General Electric​

April 17, 1992, 30 Hudson Yards, NEW YORK CITY​

On August 12, 1992, Warner Communications, Inc. has recently announced its intent to acquire NBC from General Electric for 34.7$ billion as a part of WCI's expansion plan known as "Project Millennium" in order to improve its efforts as a company and catch up on recent developments within the media and entertainment field.


By acquiring NBC, WCI would greatly benefit from the network with its hit shows such as "The Cosby Show", "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air", "Law & Order" and "Seinfeld", alongside leveraging WCI's own intellectual property such as Looney Tunes and Batman by introducing them to NBC.


General Electric would start selling NBC to Warner Communications on the start of the 1992 Olympics and eventually transfer operations on Thanksgiving 1992.

 

[captain-wacky]

UPDATE POST NUMERO UNO​

April 6, 2024. Currently at home btw​

Alright, I have been busy last week after writing that NBC article and I have currently come up with A LOT of stuff as of recently and I NEED to write about it, so here are the things I'm working on right now:

1. A post where we discuss where Atari is right now, alongside Warner's presence in gaming (which may include some details on Warner's San Diego division)
2. a few more details about Nickelodeon's Looney Tunes reboot
3. Warner Bros. San Diego [NAME PENDING]'s current slate
4. A couple of things about Disney

And last but not least...

Some headache I had about Cartoon Network, Fox Family, and __B_, alongside their owners, Viacom and the News Corporation. (I NEED TO FIGURE THIS SHIT OUT)*

Edit: welp, nvm. Fox Family's staying with Fox, while CN and __B_ are staying with Viacom.

 

[captain-wacky]

UPDATE POST NUMERO DOS​

April 13, 2024; still at home​

I was too lazy to write the articles but in the meantime I have cooked a lot of stuff for this TL, which include:

The rebranding of Warner Communications, Inc after succeeding in acquiring NBC:

And number two, some stuff about Atari (creds to Amir for the Atari-Nintendo idea):

And at the Valve-th place, a potential spin off of the cable services division of NBCWarner's (don't worry, NBCWarner's cable networks aren't going anywhere):

And later on, we have a double-packer coming from Warner Bros and Paramount, and we're gonna start off with an unexpected studio to join the House of Bugs:

And now... we're gonna move on to the big 'ol mountain and see what they can do with Hanna-Barbera (alongside some things regarding Viacom itself):

Alright, we just covered pretty much of what I've been cooking up lately...

That's All, Folks!

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Also, if you've been wondering... if you wanna know the guy that has "Po from Kung Fu Panda" as his profile, it's me.

 

[captain-wacky]

UPDATE POST NUMBER 2.1​

(I sadly broke away from the Spanish numbering system)​

April 13, 2024; currently at my grandma's house​

Alright, this will be a teeny tiny update post for now...

...but let's say that we will fast-forward this timeline from '94/'95-ish all the way to the late 90's/early 00's. I kinda think that it's a bit boring to hover around that time and because of the ideas that I have thought of that are possibly far from the current time period (which is the reason as of why i'm fast forwarding) . But don't worry, I'll post some more after this, especially after I explained what pretty much happens during that period on the previous update post.

I'm gonna post more after this mini-update post, and i'm seriously about to absolutely COOK afterwards.

Soo... yeah, I hope you guys have a good time during this.

 

[captain-wacky]

CABLE EXTRAVAGANZA '97​

Feburary 3, 1997; by Nick Johnsmith at the Chicago Times​

As we are close to reaching the new millennium, the major multimedia companies are planning to reinvent their channels for the modern age, no matter if it's new shows, or rebrands, or new underdogs, once we blast off into the 2000's, you will never see television the way it was before...

MTV, NBC and Nickelodeon are blazing successes, Warner Bros set to launch fourth basic cable network​

And let us start off the bat with Warner Bros (no pun intended), currently the most dominant company in terms of cable networks, with such powerful cable networks under its belt, such as HBO, NBC, MTV and Nickelodeon. Warner's seeing massive levels of success with their networks, and are continuing to expand on their successes, not only with new programming for their networks, but are also launching a new cable network targeted at a male demographic around the ages of 18-34, mostly focused on sitcoms, dramas, adult animation and live sports, mostly being professional wrestling, set to launch on 1999.

Disney is about to make waves on cable... ...with magic!​

Now that we have completed the talk about Warner, let's move on to their arch rival, Disney.

Ever since the House of Mouse has gotten their hands on ABC/Capital Cities a year prior, they have been starting to treat the television market seriously, and we have been starting to see that with the launch of the new saturday morning program, "Disney's One Saturday Morning", and this is just the beginning though, as Disney and ABC, in partnership with Comcast is planning to relaunch The Disney Channel in the United States in order to catch up with Nickelodeon and the newer Cartoon Network, but that's just not enough for Disney, as they are launching two new channels as well, starting with Freeform, a general entertainment channel targeted towards families, and dedicated to showing sitcoms from the ABC and fellow partner Sony Pictures' libraries. and Cinemagic, a channel dedicated to showing classic movies from various studio libraries. all three channels are launching on Thanksgiving '97, on various cable systems, while the new Disney Channel jumps onto basic cable this summer.

Viacom's survival plan: Kidvid market survival, CBS acqusition and (possible?) TNT rebrand​

Ever since the Turner merger in 1987, Viacom has been locked and loaded and expanded from being an ordinary syndication company into a multimedia titan... although they may face some competition, they luckily got an ace up their sleeve. Well, it's three, actually, but you get my point.

So first off... Viacom's planning to take their flagship Cartoon Network in a different direction, with a new focus on original programming. You might be wondering though, "what would happen to my classic cartoons?", Viacom's thankfully got you, since they're about to launch a 24/7 channel dedicated to the classic cartoons you love and crave for... alongside a retooling of Discovery Kids, which will transform the channel into an educational powerhouse, with all-new original programming from the Cartoon Network Studios and an unannounced edutainment partner.

and up next, they're about to get their original creator, CBS, in order to bolster its presence in broadcast television, and not only have the network reunite with its original library, but a possible international launch of CBS as well.
And if they happen to grab CBS, then UPN and TNT may face an unknown fate...

but for Viacom, they're instead planning to reinvent TNT into a channel for the modern generation, and also have entered talks with Universal Studios to co-own UPN with Viacom.

and Fox is continuing to ride on its tide to catch up​

While everybody else is caught up in a fight for the biggest cable presence, Fox is about to take over Universal's stake of Encore Starz for $1.3 billion dollars and is preparing to acquire International Family Entertainment for $1.9 billion dollars. What does that make? $3.2 billions!

That's right, News Corporation's got more stuff on its belt now, and is about to barge in forward to fight in with the competition, I mean, the Fox network has been doing well lately, so it makes sense to expand on their TV empire...

 

[captain-wacky]

The Walt Disney Company's assets circa 1998​

The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as Disney Brothers Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing its name to the Walt Disney Company in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchornized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.[1]

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Founded: October 16, 1923
Founders: Walt Disney, Roy E. Disney
Headquarters: Burbank, California, USA
Divisions:
Walt Disney Filmed Entertainment, Walt Disney Parks, Walt Disney Networks

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Walt Disney Filmed Entertainment​

* Walt Disney Pictures
* Walt Disney Television
* Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Touchstone Pictures
* Touchstone Television
* Touchstone Animation
* Buena Vista International Distribution
* Buena Vista Syndication
​

Walt Disney Parks​

Same as OTL

​

Walt Disney Networks​

- ABC
- ESPN
- Disney Channel [Playhouse Disney, Toon Disney]
- Cinemagic [3, 4]
- Freeform [3, 4]
- Animax [3, 4]
- A&E [2]
- The History Channel [2]
- Lifetime [2]
​

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[1] article taken from Wikipedia.
[2] co-owned with Hearst Communications, stake inherited post-Capital Cities merger
[3] co-owned with Sony Pictures Entertainment
[4] co-owned with Comcast

 

[captain-wacky]

I just had a what-if for Warner Bros. a couple of days back (and yes, it's around the mid-90s, which I chose to skip, don't worry, I'll get back to late 90s-early 00's after this)

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What if... Warner Bros owned DreamWorks?

You might be thinking that this is a bit stupid, but consider the following:

1. Warner has no New Line, since that's with Paramount
2. DreamWorks OTL made some shows for Nickelodeon and NBC (Penguins of Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda: LOA, Monsters Vs Aliens, Father Of The Pride)
3. Warner needs something to stand up in the modern-day animation industry, considering that they have no Hanna-Barbera (they have Nicktoons, but that counts as half of a leg though, DreamWorks could make that other leg complete)

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But DreamWorks ITTL would be different than OTL, so here it is:

1. DreamWorks Pictures and Animation don't split in 2004, they actually got the other stake of the founders (Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen) bought up by Warner in 2005. The former is now a label of Warner Bros for arthouse movies, while the latter remains as its seperate studio.
2. DreamWorks Animation here is different than OTL, you see, they're Warner's "premiere animation" division, and that means that they would have films catered to a general audience instead of families (so expect adult animation like Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut, and even Ren and Stimpy to join the DWA lineup)
3. Continuing on the "general audiences" schtick, We'd strip out what I think are some of the weaker films that DreamWorks made (Boss Baby, Trolls, The Croods, etc.) transferring them over to Paramount's animation division (name pending), while we make some of their films PG-13 (i.e. Shark Tale, which ITTL will be called Sharkslayer, and will feature more emphasis on Oscar's shady tactics and egotisticism. and Madagascar, which would put some shine on Gloria and Melman's relationship, while adding in some language to certain characters like the grandmother. Heck, even Shrek's being put as PG-13 ITTL)
4. We'd have DWA not limit themselves to CGI and allow them to do traditional animation and still distribute Aardman's films internationally.
5. DWTVA would instead be focusing on adult animation and experimental TV shows (with sometimes TV shows based on DreamWorks IP, but they won't do that as much)
6. We'd resurrect some cancelled movies like B.O.O and Me And My Shadow into the lineup, while taking some sequels like Megamind 2 and actually make it a solid sequel to the original (Shrek The Third won't exist though)
7. We could have Steven Spielberg do creative operations with Katzenberg and Brandt/Cevrone to run the animation studio and its sister counterpart, Warner Bros. Animation. Considering that Spielberg had some ties with Warner before DreamWorks existed.
8. PDI here would exist as a multipurpose effects studio for Warner Bros, DreamWorks and even other studios. (They'd mostly compete with Pixar and ILM in terms of everything)

Alrighty that's all I've got for DreamWorks and Warner Bros. Hope y'all like it.

 

[captain-wacky]

and because I'm too lazy to write this myself in the thread... here it is:

(this was before I watched Button of Doom, which is actually better than the piece of shit that is Megamind Vs. The Doom Syndicate)

(Illumination doesn't exist ITTL, mind you)

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yes, my discord profile's changed from Po to Rigby.

and it will regularly change

 

[captain-wacky]

UPDATE POST NUMERO TRES​

RETURNED TO SPANISH NUMBERING SYSTEM, HELL YEAH!!​

(unsuprisingly at home rn, April 30, 2024)​

first post in a long time, eh?


well, I cooked too much ideas that are HUGE for this timeline:

Soo, a couple of things out of the way...

KLASKY CSUPO JOINS TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX​

yes, that's right. I'm putting the studio behind Rugrats onto Fox instead of Nickelodeon for two logical reasons. The first reason is that I'd want to make more room for Warner Bros. cartoons on Nickelodeon (considering that this timeline is basically about that), and the second reason is that Klasky-Csupo used to work on animation services for The Simpsons before Season 4.

Also, this could help Fox because at least Klasky-Csupo could cover for the Saban shows that were pulled off due to a management dispute, so expect the Power Rangers to land on another network after Saban and said network's owner sign a deal.

and please keep in mind that Klasky-Csupo (as an animation studio) would merge with Film Roman, while the rest of the company becomes a copyright holder co-owned with Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo, Film Roman, and to nobody's surprise... 20th Century Fox

speaking of Nickelodeon shows moving to other networks to make room for WB cartoons...
​

OTL NICKELODEON SHOWS MOVING TO OTHER NETWORKS​

MAINLINE SHOWS​

- Fairly OddParents! & Danny Phantom (same reason as Rugrats and all the other shows, Butch Hartman previously worked at Hanna-Barbera outside our timeline, and yes, Disney aired the show in certain territories [won't happen ITTL], but well, since Nick needs space for Warner 'toons [including Pokémon], the CARTOON NETWORK might fit as their new home. [also, Bunsen gets released earlier around the Yes! era, and actually does well])
- My Life as a Teenage Robot (probably same reason as Butch, Renzetti previously worked at H-B. and there was also a scrapped crossover with PPG OTL and a fake backdoor pilot video, but it sorta made sense to put XLJ-9 on the Checkerboard network)
- Jimmy Neutron (now, I know what YOU are thinking, "are you gonna move Jimmy to CN? because they got a crossover with Fairly OddParents outside our timeline" but it won't happen, instead, we will put it on Fox Family of all channels because, y'know, CGI won't work for CN, especially VeggieTales level of CGI. the movie's gonna be distributed by Fox instead, and the Jimmy crossover could be eradicated in favor of a PPG crossover for FOP.)
- Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island (Isn't Coconut Fred a WB show? you may ask, again... yes, but since WB owns Nick, there's gonna be internal rivalry with SpongeBob here... I'm gonna move it to Fox Family yet again... because I don't think it works for Disney and it's too dumb for CN.)

don't worry though, Aang, Zim and Rudy are gonna be safe here, Nick would have more room for more shows.
​

PRESCHOOL SHOWS​

- Dora The Explorer (arguably one of Nick Jr.'s most iconic shows, if you ever existed, you'd be aware of HER existing. It's a hard sacrifice, but off to Qubo you go! [I had to do this to make room for motherfucking Baby Looney Tunes])
- Peppa Pig (I was initially wanting to scrap Wonder Pets and move that to Qubo, but I would rather choose Peppa anyday. I mean, she did air on Cartoon Network outside of our timeline anyway. [she's iconic too, but not remembered AS fondly as Dora. but hey, that's a good sacrifice just so that Sesame Street could go in])
- Wow Wow Wubbzy! (now that's an absolute f*cking masterpiece, one of my favorite childhood shows, I'd say. I would have moved it to Qubo, but I chose to move it to Fox Family for the fact that NewsCorp owns Starz IMTL. it could help Fox's Sprout take a stand against Playhouse Disney, Qubo and Nick Jr.)
- Bubble Guppies (it's a show about mermaids, I don't think it feels Nick Jr. to me, I would've sacrificed PAW Patrol but I chose another show that I could sacrifice yet not lose some value. GO TO EITHER PLAYHOUSE DISNEY OR QUBO I DON'T FUCKING CARE!; and oh, its replacement would be Kerwhizz, a show some guy on Discord couldn't shut up about, to be honest, I think it feels unique for the network.)

whew, taken care of all of those shows, let me take a break...

*forgets mentioning Spielberg...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
​

Universal messes with Steven Spielberg's next movie and Spielberg is so disappointed he took the rights to his movies and signed a deal with Warner Bros. instead... (it's in the eighties by the way)​

ah sweet, now that I have taken care of all of that... allow me to talk about Hanna-Barbera...
​

Hanna-Barbera Animation​

Hanna-Barbera Animation is an American animation studio currently owned by Viacom Corporation, it has currently four divisions as of now (Television, Animation, Experimental, Williams Street), and they produce programs for Cartoon Network, Qubo, [adult swim] and CNX...

it is this timeline's equivalent to Cartoon Network Studios and Paramount Animation​

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WHEW!

this has taken long for me to finish

hope you all had fun with this stupid ass article

 

[captain-wacky]

The Great Saban-Fox dispute: Beginnings​

so around the 1996-97 season, Haim Saban and Rupert Murdoch have proposed a merger between Saban Entertainment with Fox Kids into one unified division in order to streamline operations, which was widely welcomed at the time, because of streamlined programming operations and planned international growth, but was concerning to some, especially considering how the shows would be handled, and how the network overall would be programmed...

anyway, Saban and Murdoch were increasingly optimistic about this merger, but a Fox Kids executive wasn't convinced, and he immediately began to leak Saban's plans and start a strike, with various concerned employees, joining the strike with said executive.
having feared the loss of programming diversity to shows like Power Rangers and Digimon. Saban's "secret plan" was leaked at the same time the strike happened. with which unfortunately led to a lawsuit between Haim Saban and News Corporation, and oh boy,
things aren't gonna turn out well...

Spoiler: What will happen next??

would Saban win the lawsuit and the plan goes normally, or would the executive win and the block goes back stronger, while Saban packs up to another studio? let's find out what happens next...