The 2026 Warner Bros. Discovery upfront lacked any spark, and not just because it took place at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Today’s event, ostensibly to sell television-commercial slots to the advertisers in attendance, felt more like a wake for WBD. That’s probably because, in some ways, it was. Barring any unforeseen bumps in the regulatory process, Warner Bros. Discovery, formed in April 2022 through the merging of Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia (owned at the time by AT&T), will become part of Paramount Skydance sometime this fall. So what happens when a major media company has no fall slate to sell at a trade show almost entirely about buying fall slates? You get a quick — and very forgettable — upfront. WBD’s heaviest hitters sat this one out. CEO David Zaslav was not seen on-site (let alone on stage). HBO chief Casey Bloys was also neither seen nor heard.…