Yeah i think it allows them to write the ‘loss’ of the content on their balance sheet at some estimated value it would have cost them if they hadn’t made it themselves.

That sort of management-by-spreadsheet without any of the humanity or long-term vision almost every corporation used to have seems to be an ongoing trend, especially in media, and it’s showing. Discovery, who have McDonnel-Douglassed HBO and are behind this mess, are a particularly good example of the kind of garbage heap that leadership style gets you.