AT&T to Spin Off and Combine WarnerMedia with Discovery

[daemonova]

why not warner discovery?
the 90's called

they want to get the "Brothers" in there for legacy

 

[daemonova]

Discovery today announced the new name of the proposed standalone global entertainment company that will emerge from the combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery assets: “Warner Bros. Discovery.”

“The Warner Bros. Discovery name will honor, celebrate and elevate the world’s most-storied creative studio in the world with the high quality, global nonfiction storytelling heritage of Discovery,” the company said.

David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery and future chief executive of the proposed Warner Bros. Discovery combined company, unveiled the new name to WarnerMedia employees from the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank.

“Warner Bros. Discovery will aspire to be the most innovative, exciting and fun place to tell stories in the world – that is what the company will be about. We love the new company’s name because it represents the combination of Warner Bros.’ fabled hundred year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life, with Discovery’s global brand that has always stood brightly for integrity, innovation and inspiration,” he said.



RELATED STORY
Discovery CEO David Zaslav 'Happy' About Amazon-MGM Deal In Light Of WarnerMedia Merger Plan


“There are so many wonderful, creative and journalistic cultures that will make up the Warner Bros. Discovery family. We believe it will be the best and most exciting place in the world to tell big, important and impactful stories across any genre – and across any platform: film, television and streaming.”

The initial wordmark for the proposed company includes the iconic line from the Maltese Falcon, “the stuff that dreams are made of,” an additional homage to the rich legacy of Warner Bros. and the focus of what the proposed company will be about.

Last month, AT&T and Discovery reached a definitive agreement to combine WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a single company. The deal was AT&T cutting the cord on WarnerMedia in a $43 billion deal, three years after buying Time Warner. Discovery, which rules in unscripted fare, adds scripted content to its portfolio and streaming assets.

It’s not clear how it will be structured, but the expectation is that the combined company will offer some type of bundle with Discovery+ and HBO Max. The deal is expected to close in the middle of next year.

That deal was followed in short order by Amazon announced plans to buy MGM in what appears to be another era of consolidated in entertainment industry spurred by the dual demands of streaming — cash and content.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav will be in charge of the merged group. WarnerMedia is by far the bigger company though, with around three times the 2020 revenue and a roster of iconic characters and properties. Discovery brings to the table a huge archive of reality TV shows and a growing news and sports business in Europe.

“We believe it will be the best and most exciting place in the world to tell big, important and impactful stories across any genre – and across any platform: film, television and streaming,” Zaslav said in a statement today. The combined company is borrowing a line from the Warner Bros. classic The Maltese Falcon for its slogan, “The stuff that dreams are made of.”

AT&T and Discovery expect the merger to wrap up in mid-2020, assuming it clears regulatory hurdles. AT&T shareholders will own 71 percent of the new company, so it’s really more like WarnerMedia is being freed from AT&T and picking up Discovery along the way.

The hope is that the combined entertainment giant can become an even bigger player in streaming than the two are independently today. WarnerMedia runs HBO Max, which has been fairly successful so far, though it remains smaller than Netflix and Disney Plus. Discovery only recently launched Discovery Plus. Zaslav has said the combined company will put $20 billion per year toward new content, a number rivaling Netflix and exceeding Disney Plus, and that he hopes to eventually reach 400 million homes.
(403) Space Jam: A New Legacy – Trailer 1 - YouTube

 

[loyola llothta]

Discovery today announced the new name of the proposed standalone global entertainment company that will emerge from the combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery assets: “Warner Bros. Discovery.”

“The Warner Bros. Discovery name will honor, celebrate and elevate the world’s most-storied creative studio in the world with the high quality, global nonfiction storytelling heritage of Discovery,” the company said.

David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery and future chief executive of the proposed Warner Bros. Discovery combined company, unveiled the new name to WarnerMedia employees from the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank.

“Warner Bros. Discovery will aspire to be the most innovative, exciting and fun place to tell stories in the world – that is what the company will be about. We love the new company’s name because it represents the combination of Warner Bros.’ fabled hundred year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life, with Discovery’s global brand that has always stood brightly for integrity, innovation and inspiration,” he said.



RELATED STORY
Discovery CEO David Zaslav 'Happy' About Amazon-MGM Deal In Light Of WarnerMedia Merger Plan


“There are so many wonderful, creative and journalistic cultures that will make up the Warner Bros. Discovery family. We believe it will be the best and most exciting place in the world to tell big, important and impactful stories across any genre – and across any platform: film, television and streaming.”

The initial wordmark for the proposed company includes the iconic line from the Maltese Falcon, “the stuff that dreams are made of,” an additional homage to the rich legacy of Warner Bros. and the focus of what the proposed company will be about.

Last month, AT&T and Discovery reached a definitive agreement to combine WarnerMedia’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading nonfiction and international entertainment and sports businesses to create a single company. The deal was AT&T cutting the cord on WarnerMedia in a $43 billion deal, three years after buying Time Warner. Discovery, which rules in unscripted fare, adds scripted content to its portfolio and streaming assets.

It’s not clear how it will be structured, but the expectation is that the combined company will offer some type of bundle with Discovery+ and HBO Max. The deal is expected to close in the middle of next year.

That deal was followed in short order by Amazon announced plans to buy MGM in what appears to be another era of consolidated in entertainment industry spurred by the dual demands of streaming — cash and content.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav will be in charge of the merged group. WarnerMedia is by far the bigger company though, with around three times the 2020 revenue and a roster of iconic characters and properties. Discovery brings to the table a huge archive of reality TV shows and a growing news and sports business in Europe.

“We believe it will be the best and most exciting place in the world to tell big, important and impactful stories across any genre – and across any platform: film, television and streaming,” Zaslav said in a statement today. The combined company is borrowing a line from the Warner Bros. classic The Maltese Falcon for its slogan, “The stuff that dreams are made of.”

AT&T and Discovery expect the merger to wrap up in mid-2020, assuming it clears regulatory hurdles. AT&T shareholders will own 71 percent of the new company, so it’s really more like WarnerMedia is being freed from AT&T and picking up Discovery along the way.

The hope is that the combined entertainment giant can become an even bigger player in streaming than the two are independently today. WarnerMedia runs HBO Max, which has been fairly successful so far, though it remains smaller than Netflix and Disney Plus. Discovery only recently launched Discovery Plus. Zaslav has said the combined company will put $20 billion per year toward new content, a number rivaling Netflix and exceeding Disney Plus, and that he hopes to eventually reach 400 million homes.
(403) Space Jam: A New Legacy – Trailer 1 - YouTube

Like I said AT&T dont own Warner’s anymore

 

[daemonova]

Discovery CEO David Zaslav said WarnerMedia’s content machine plus his company’s global reach will more than secure the merged ops a place at the Netflix and Disney+ winners table. At a media conference Tuesday, he gave multiple shout-outs to Casey Bloys, HBO’s hit The Mare of Easttown, CNN/Jeff Zucker, theatrical releases and an advertising-light streaming strategy.

“I am moving right into the Warner Bros. lot. I want to be where the content is made,” he said during a long Q&A at Credit Suisse. It “starts with the motion picture business and no one can open a picture anywhere in the world like Warner Bros,” he said. “We will lean into the motion business because it is a real strategic advantage. Because that’s where stars are made. They didn’t go to Hollywood to do a TV show that gets on a streaming service.

He talked about the small screen too, mostly HBO’s Kate Winslet-starring seven-part series Mare of Easttown that just concluded. He said guests at a recent Sunday dinner party he attended rushed home to catch the show.

Zaslav’s dance card over the last few weeks since the deal was announced has been full of town halls and investor meetings to soothe staffers at WarnerMedia, which is changing hands again after just three years, and Wall Streeters who are also wary. AT&T on May 17 announced a $43-billion deal to spin off WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery forming a new standalone company. AT&T shareholders will own over 70% of the stock in the new company, Discovery holders the rest.

It’s expected to close in the middle of next year and meanwhile execs will be aligning on org charts, melding corporate cultures and working on the Big Question – what kind of streaming service/services will emerge from HBO Max and Discovery+? And CNN+, which AT&T CEO John Stankey confirmed last week will be happening. With or without commercials? At what price point?

“We have some really good ideas but we are going to learn a lot over the next (months) and we will come to you with our strategy outside the U.S. when we are ready. Inside the U.S., we also have a very good idea of what we are going to do and how we can aggregate a massive audience … But I think we’ve got to wait for that and we will be trying a lot of things, [will] look at how competitors are doing, how we’re doing and listening to what consumers want.”

“We will be ready. If it’s nine months or 12 or 15 month, well be ready to go,” he said,

Zaslav said TBS and TNT, viewed as declining linear assets, should be considered for their sport portfolio, including the NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, ELEAGUE and professional golf, along with the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. “Everything but the NFL,” he said.

“Look under that hood, I think it’s a very clever strategy. It protects the downside and assures yourself a good piece of the advertising pie.”

Discovery brings a stable including Oprah, Chip and Joanna Gaines, Guy Fieri and dozens of others. Its global reach, which can be a hard story for investors to warm to, makes it probably “the most complicated media company in the world today,” Zaslav said.

“What we did is very hard,” he said of working local production in over 200 countries, local sports in 56 countries with accompanying sports rights deals, distribution deals, working with mobile players in every country. “What should we put on the air in Italy and what are the sports that are really popular in Poland (ski jumping apparently) or Holland (hand ball)?

“A lot of the U.S. players came over and looked at Eurosport [which Discovery acquired in 2014] and said, ‘It’s so hard.’ Forty languages. We get spoiled in the U.S..”

 

[loyola llothta]

Discovery CEO David Zaslav said WarnerMedia’s content machine plus his company’s global reach will more than secure the merged ops a place at the Netflix and Disney+ winners table. At a media conference Tuesday, he gave multiple shout-outs to Casey Bloys, HBO’s hit The Mare of Easttown, CNN/Jeff Zucker, theatrical releases and an advertising-light streaming strategy.

“I am moving right into the Warner Bros. lot. I want to be where the content is made,” he said during a long Q&A at Credit Suisse. It “starts with the motion picture business and no one can open a picture anywhere in the world like Warner Bros,” he said. “We will lean into the motion business because it is a real strategic advantage. Because that’s where stars are made. They didn’t go to Hollywood to do a TV show that gets on a streaming service.

He talked about the small screen too, mostly HBO’s Kate Winslet-starring seven-part series Mare of Easttown that just concluded. He said guests at a recent Sunday dinner party he attended rushed home to catch the show.

Zaslav’s dance card over the last few weeks since the deal was announced has been full of town halls and investor meetings to soothe staffers at WarnerMedia, which is changing hands again after just three years, and Wall Streeters who are also wary. AT&T on May 17 announced a $43-billion deal to spin off WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery forming a new standalone company. AT&T shareholders will own over 70% of the stock in the new company, Discovery holders the rest.

It’s expected to close in the middle of next year and meanwhile execs will be aligning on org charts, melding corporate cultures and working on the Big Question – what kind of streaming service/services will emerge from HBO Max and Discovery+? And CNN+, which AT&T CEO John Stankey confirmed last week will be happening. With or without commercials? At what price point?

“We have some really good ideas but we are going to learn a lot over the next (months) and we will come to you with our strategy outside the U.S. when we are ready. Inside the U.S., we also have a very good idea of what we are going to do and how we can aggregate a massive audience … But I think we’ve got to wait for that and we will be trying a lot of things, [will] look at how competitors are doing, how we’re doing and listening to what consumers want.”

“We will be ready. If it’s nine months or 12 or 15 month, well be ready to go,” he said,

Zaslav said TBS and TNT, viewed as declining linear assets, should be considered for their sport portfolio, including the NBA, Major League Baseball, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, ELEAGUE and professional golf, along with the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. “Everything but the NFL,” he said.

“Look under that hood, I think it’s a very clever strategy. It protects the downside and assures yourself a good piece of the advertising pie.”

Discovery brings a stable including Oprah, Chip and Joanna Gaines, Guy Fieri and dozens of others. Its global reach, which can be a hard story for investors to warm to, makes it probably “the most complicated media company in the world today,” Zaslav said.

“What we did is very hard,” he said of working local production in over 200 countries, local sports in 56 countries with accompanying sports rights deals, distribution deals, working with mobile players in every country. “What should we put on the air in Italy and what are the sports that are really popular in Poland (ski jumping apparently) or Holland (hand ball)?

“A lot of the U.S. players came over and looked at Eurosport [which Discovery acquired in 2014] and said, ‘It’s so hard.’ Forty languages. We get spoiled in the U.S..”

This man talking his shyt.

“with mobile players in every country. “What should we put on the air in Italy and what are the sports that are really popular in Poland (ski jumping apparently) or Holland (hand ball)?”

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

A lot of these companies are now truly realizing just how expensive it is to own and operate a streaming service.

 

[Apollo Creed]

A lot of these companies are now truly realizing just how expensive it is to own and operate a streaming service.

yeah i heard tmobile deaded their cable offering after two weeks

 

[daemonova]

 

[daemonova]

 

[daemonova]

 

[daemonova]

Warner Bros. Discovery Sets Sights on 200 Million Sub Mark

By Jon Lafayette

First Published 1 day ago

• 
  

Separately, companies have a way to go

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Discovery)
To be a player in the streaming world, the opening ante is 200 million subscribers.

On Discovery’s earnings call Tuesday, CEO David Zaslav was asked about reports the company was interested in Britain's Channel 4. The reply was essentially “no comment” and “small potatoes.”

To Zaslav what is important is closing the deal that will combine Discovery with AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit, forming Warner Bros. Discovery and getting the company up to scale.

“We’re focused on 200 million global subscribers. This is not about niche,” Zaslav said.

“For me, after we close this deal, it is going to be two absolute missions. Mission number one is drive direct-to-consumer to 200 million subscribers in every language in the world. And with a product that’s easy to navigate and use.”

Zaslav said Warner Bros. Discovery would be starting with a good base because both companies are growing their streaming subscriber numbers.

But based on where WarnerMedia and Discovery finished the second quarter, they still have a long way to go to get to 200 million, like Netflix and The Walt Disney Co.

Last month, AT&T reported its earnings and said that it had 67.5 million global subscribers between HBO Max and HBO. The company said that by the end of the year, it expected to have between 70 million and 73 million subscribers under its belt.

In its second-quarter results, Discovery said it finished the second quarter with 17 million direct-to-consumer customers and had 18 million as of Tuesday.

The 17 million figure disappointed Wall Street and sent Discovery and other media stocks reeling. Discovery was down more than 4% in afternoon trading.

Zaslav said he expected Warner Bros. Discovery to be one of the streaming winners because of its focus.

“We’re not in the phone business when this deal closes. We’re not in the retail business, we’re not in the cloud business. We’re not in the cable business. With that singular focus, I think we’ll drive a great culture,” he said.

“I do think that there’s a lot of players that are sub-scale and a lot of them are going to be figuring out over the next couple of years what they do. And the good news for us is we think our hand is very, very strong,” he said.

Zaslav said that his No. 2 focus is having the best creative company in the world.

“We see that Warner Bros. seal and it stands for something. It stands for great storytelling,” he said.

The movie business will be important to the new company, Zaslav added. “It’s the patina. It’s why the greatest writers and producers and creative talent came. When you look up at the big screen, that’s where stars are made and that’s where the magic happens

 

[Jello Biafra]

I'm still waiting for them to announce Discovery+ as a hub on HBO Max. They need to stop fukking around...the streets need that full Love After Lockup catalog.

 

[daemonova]

I'm still waiting for them to announce Discovery+ as a hub on HBO Max. They need to stop fukking around...the streets need that full Love After Lockup catalog.

The merger won't be final until next Summer

 

[Dreamchaser]

Warner Bros. Discovery Sets Sights on 200 Million Sub Mark

By Jon Lafayette

First Published 1 day ago

• 
  

Separately, companies have a way to go

(Image credit: Warner Bros. Discovery)
To be a player in the streaming world, the opening ante is 200 million subscribers.

On Discovery’s earnings call Tuesday, CEO David Zaslav was asked about reports the company was interested in Britain's Channel 4. The reply was essentially “no comment” and “small potatoes.”

To Zaslav what is important is closing the deal that will combine Discovery with AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit, forming Warner Bros. Discovery and getting the company up to scale.

“We’re focused on 200 million global subscribers. This is not about niche,” Zaslav said.

“For me, after we close this deal, it is going to be two absolute missions. Mission number one is drive direct-to-consumer to 200 million subscribers in every language in the world. And with a product that’s easy to navigate and use.”

Zaslav said Warner Bros. Discovery would be starting with a good base because both companies are growing their streaming subscriber numbers.

But based on where WarnerMedia and Discovery finished the second quarter, they still have a long way to go to get to 200 million, like Netflix and The Walt Disney Co.

Last month, AT&T reported its earnings and said that it had 67.5 million global subscribers between HBO Max and HBO. The company said that by the end of the year, it expected to have between 70 million and 73 million subscribers under its belt.

In its second-quarter results, Discovery said it finished the second quarter with 17 million direct-to-consumer customers and had 18 million as of Tuesday.

The 17 million figure disappointed Wall Street and sent Discovery and other media stocks reeling. Discovery was down more than 4% in afternoon trading.

Zaslav said he expected Warner Bros. Discovery to be one of the streaming winners because of its focus.

“We’re not in the phone business when this deal closes. We’re not in the retail business, we’re not in the cloud business. We’re not in the cable business. With that singular focus, I think we’ll drive a great culture,” he said.

“I do think that there’s a lot of players that are sub-scale and a lot of them are going to be figuring out over the next couple of years what they do. And the good news for us is we think our hand is very, very strong,” he said.

Zaslav said that his No. 2 focus is having the best creative company in the world.

“We see that Warner Bros. seal and it stands for something. It stands for great storytelling,” he said.

The movie business will be important to the new company, Zaslav added. “It’s the patina. It’s why the greatest writers and producers and creative talent came. When you look up at the big screen, that’s where stars are made and that’s where the magic happens

This venture is going to hit a wall on this marriage. They basically want to double the number of subscribers they have. It took Netflix 4 years to go from 100 to 200 million subscribers. Disney was able to hit 100 million subscribers within 16 months, but they were bundling that offer with ESPN+, and Hulu and offering it through Verizon at a extremely cheap price. I'm not sure Warner is willing to provide that offering for less that $10 to grow subscribers, streaming is a crowded field as well.

 

[AnonymityX1000]

This venture is going to hit a wall on this marriage. They basically want to double the number of subscribers they have. It took Netflix 4 years to go from 100 to 200 million subscribers. Disney was able to hit 100 million subscribers within 16 months, but they were bundling that offer with ESPN+, and Hulu and offering it through Verizon at a extremely cheap price. I'm not sure Warner is willing to provide that offering for less that $10 to grow subscribers, streaming is a crowded field as well.

Expanding into more international markets will go a long way to improving their sub numbers.