The death of Cartoon Network?

Warner Bros' CEO, David Zaslav has been on a crusade to change what many of us loved about the company. From making Warner Bros Discovery less-diverse overall—by cutting a large number of employees—his latest plans to restructure the company seems likely to kill a channel most of us have grown up with, Cartoon Network. Even if Cartoon Network is not completely killed off, it is likely to become a shadow of what it originally used to be.

These recent cuts, which come in the wake of Warner's merger with Discovery, eliminated a total of 43 open positions from its television division. In August, Warner Bros Discovery also cut around 70 positions at HBO Max, which also killed off the completed "Batgirl" movie and also resulted in dozens of other shows and movies being shelved.

Now, people are concerned about the implications of the company's latest plans to merge Warner Bros Animation and Cartoon Network Studios.

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According to an internal memo from Warner Bros Television CEO, Channing Dungey, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, Warner Bros Animation, and Cartoon Network Studios would continue to exist, under a 'new streamlined structure'.

However, Warner Bros Animation and Cartoon Network Studios will now have to share their development and production team. This decision probably  But the latter two animation labels will now share "development and main production teams," which essentially means that Cartoon Network Studios will no longer have the creative control, as well as the choice to make decisions regarding operational matters.

Zaslav's crusade to cut costs by cancelling the "Batgirl" movie—which has already completed filming—and shows like "Raised by Wolves", is seemingly continuing with the current situation surrounding Warner Bros Animation and Cartoon Network Studios.

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However, as these two studios will now be working under one shared budget and a singular team, it seems unlikely that they will be able to operate in the same capacity they had previously. 

If this was not obvious already, earlier this month, Cartoon Network's "Craig of the Creek" and "Jessica's Big Little World" had their episode orders cut back by 50 percent. While both shows have not been cancelled as of yet, the way their budgets have been cut—despite the fact that they are some of Cartoon Network's most successful franchises—feels like a tell-tale situation for things to come. 

It seems likely that Warner Bros Discovery will keep the brand of Cartoon Network alive, simply due to the level of fanfare surrounding it. However, it feels like going forward, the Cartoon Network we all loved and grew up with will just be a shell of its former shelf.