> I don't understand how Disney and Netflix and HBO decide it makes financial sense to strip major series like Westworld off their streaming services because the residuals are costing them more than the series is earning

That's not exactly the sole explanation:

"Warner Bros. Discovery plans to license the series, and several others, to free ad-supported streaming television services"

"On top of that, it'll be able to fully write down the future amortization costs of those series."

https://www.fool.com/investing/2022/12/22/westworld-no-longe...