“If you’re looking for real-life horror, Max’s paranormal catalog has everything you need,” a recent Collider headline promised. They weren’t writing about horror movies, though. Rather, they listed some of the top paranormal reality television shows Max now offers, like Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, The Dead Files, and more. It’s all thanks to the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
Besides the title, another sentence in the article caught my eye.
“At its height, paranormal reality television pulled millions of individual cable viewers each week and popularized amateur ghost hunting among the masses.”
The “at its height” struck me. Are we there? Has reality paranormal TV peaked? Is Travel Channel done with those kinds of shows? Does that explain the cancelation of certain shows like Destination Fear and Portals to Hell, as well as why the release of new shows has dried up?
Or does the Warner Bros. Discovery merger have something to do with the lack of new shows as well as the cancellations?
Let’s first look at the merger before diving in to examine the implications we may now be starting to see.
The Warner Bros. Discovery Merger
The merger happened in April 2022 when AT&T spun off WarnerMedia and it merged with Discovery, Inc.
As Business Insider explained, it created “a content behemoth combining Warners’ HBO, CNN, and the famed Warner Bros. film studio with Discovery’s lifestyle and reality fare.”
However, it wasn’t until this year in April that I finally started seeing signs of the merger. For one, in the lack of the normal amount of communication from my Travel Channel contacts. For another, their signatures changed to WBD.
Was the merger the nail in Travel Channel’s coffin?
Lately, all’s been quiet on the Travel Channel paranormal television front. It used to be that I’d get at least a couple of press releases a month from the PR people at Travel Channel about one paranormal show or the other. And a couple times a month they’d send a listing of programming highlights. During peak spooky season, getting something as often as once or twice a week wasn’t uncommon.
But March was the last time I got a programming highlights update. Probably because it’s not like it once was with new shows, series, and specials launching all the time. The only news the last couple of months has been about the new season of Ghost Hunters, Cindy Kaza replacing Amy Allan on The Dead Files, Eli Roth returning to Travel Channel with The Legion of Exorcists, and the release date for the new season of Paranormal Caught on Camera. (The news about Ghost Adventures: Lake of Death and the show moving from Travel Channel to Discovery came from a source at Discovery.)
That shows that Travel Channel isn’t entirely dead. But the content has certainly dried up, so, yes. It’s looking like the paranormal has peaked. At least on Travel Channel.
Will the merger affect Ghostober?
In years past, Travel Channel started releasing Ghostober info in August. However, I’m curious to see if there will even be a Ghostober this year. Won’t be much longer until we find out…
Cooling, Cuts, and the Bottom Line
CNBC published an enlightening article about why streaming services are removing shows lately. They meant removing content from their platforms, but they also specifically mentioned Warner Bros. Discovery. And it might provide a big clue as to why shows got cut and very few new ones have been greenlit.
Even when Warner Bros. Discovery pulled content as part of planned tax write-offs tied to its merger, consumers seemed to accept the move as the cost of doing business.
CNBC went on to say:
“What is hitting their income statements is the amortization of content that’s already been made and released,” said Michael Nathanson, an analyst at SVB MoffettNathanson. “Warner Bros. Discovery was the first one to figure this out, so we have to give credit where it’s due. They said they need to get their earnings up, so they started taking shows off the app.
So if you wondered why some of your shows aren’t on discovery+ anymore or the newly formed Max, this is why. It’s all about the Benjamins.
Which means maybe it’s more accurate to say it’s not the Warner Bros. Discovery merger that killed Travel Channel paranormal shows per se, but the streaming landscape the network found itself being swallowed up by.
Other Places to Find Paranormal Shows
Sure. It looks like Travel Channel paranormal shows have peaked. But new paranormal reality shows are still being released. (Just not at the record pace they once were.)
Last year Netflix released 28 Days Haunted, where three teams spent 28 days investigating some of America’s most haunted places based on the theories of Ed and Lorraine Warren. It was popular, but there’s no word yet if it was renewed for a season 2.
In years past, Netflix has also dabbled in the paranormal with shows like Haunted (2018-?; Was its third season its last, or will there be a season 4?) and Surviving Death (2021-?; According to Looper, it seems unlikely there will be a season 2).
Tubi’s already a good place to go for free re-runs of paranormal shows. And they recently struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that will have them offering even more.
But Tubi’s also created some of their own original paranormal TV content, including Famously Haunted: Amityville, Celebrity Exorcism, and Dead Hot (which starred Vanessa Hudgins and sounded awfully similar to Travel Channel’s Conjuring Kesha).
Check-In
What are your thoughts about Ghostober this year? Do you think it’s doomed, or do you think Ghostober 2024 will happen?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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Oh, it’s worse than that. The yahoo-CEO in charge has been taking a wrecking ball to everything. He’s the reason why WBD took a 90 million tax loss write off because they killed the Batgirl movie. (No one can see it, if it even exists anymore, not even the directors.)
I don’t know if you noticed on Twitter, but he’s gone after Turner Classic Movies. He fired the people in charge and gutted the staff from 90 to 20 people. TCM is a minor drop in their budget, but this guy is carrying on like he’s in a slasher movie. There is a petition out there to save TCM. There is also a letter writing campaign. Considering all the wonderful old horror films they show every October, my favorite month on their channel, it would be a huge loss if it got crippled and commercials crammed in to boot.
Destroying the paranormal programming is par for the course. Meanwhile, we get more ‘reality’ programs about people hooking up to get married, hooking up after their divorces, hooking up on the job working on a yacht…You get the picture.
At least he hasn’t killed Bargain Block or Restored. The only two reality shows I like, aside from my ghost shows.
Oh, Maria, your comments often make me chuckle, like this one did. (Starting with the “yahoo-CEO” and ending with the “You get the picture.” lol)
I remember when he killed the Batgirl movie. Holy hell was there controversy about that. But I guess in the name of write-offs, it made sense…
But I didn’t know about him going after TCM, which is heartbreaking. I have (had?) access through some of its content thanks to the HBO Max subscription, but I’m ashamed to admit I hadn’t noticed if it was there after the Max change. It’s laid out different now on the computer version. I don’t see it there. But the TV app is slightly different and I think it’s still divided by “hubs.” I’ll check tonight and see if it’s there.
That would be so sad if it went away. We had cable still when I was going through cancer. On my yuck, couldn’t get out of bed/off the couch days, TCM was my go-to.
Sure do appreciate your comments. (And the giggles.) And I hope your other reality shows remain off the chopping block!
Yeah, people have been complaining about the Max layout, too. They can’t find their programs easily. We get TCM via YouTubeTV, which is generally cheaper than cable. We chose it because it included PBS among our local channels and we can’t do without that either. We have one of those smart TVs from Samsung, which is interesting because it comes with its own built in network of stations, including a hub of paranormal channels, including a recently discovered favorite HauntTV, which shows older programs.
I’m beginning to be worried about Ghost Hunters and the rest of the surviving programs now.
I keep hearing good things about YouTubeTV. And now thanks to you I’ve learned you can even watch TCM that way. Cool!
Speaking of, I saw this article today and immediately thought of you: “If you love film, you should be worried about what’s going on at Turner Classic Movies” https://www.npr.org/2023/06/28/1184544944/tcm-turner-classic-movies-david-zaslav
Talk about kismet!
And I think you’re right to worry about Ghost Hunters and stuff not surviving. The landscape has suddenly drastically changed and who knows what’s going to happen next.
The rest may have to follow Project Fear onto YouTube. I watched their first episode the other night.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened, Maria. And how did you like Project Fear?
It’s nice that they have more time to do their work. I haven’t watched part 2 yet, perhaps tonight. Now that they no longer have an RV to ride around in,I’m guessing they have to stay in hotels?
Oh! Maybe they can’t afford the RV anymore? I wonder if that’s what they were raising money for. That and probably to pay themselves. Interesting. I haven’t watched yet so I didn’t know. Thanks for answering my question. Learned something new!