Warner Bros. Discovery

[Medianext.MX]

After 10 months of the announcement from AT&T and Discovery of the spin-off of WarnerMedia from AT&T and its merger under Discovery, it is finally happening. Today, Discovery's shareholders approved the final hurdle needed to create the second-largest media company in the world, after The Walt Disney Company and overtaking Paramount Global. The merger, a Reverse Morris Trust, will be structured as a 71%/29% venture between AT&T and Discovery shareholders, respectively, and AT&T will receive US$43 billion in cash and debt as part of the merger, as part of John Stankey's massive reorganization plans to restructure the finances of the telco, after a rocky period with Randall Stephenson at the helm (which included its acquisition of then-Time Warner). Discovery is also looking for additional investment to receive an additional US$15 billion dollars in debt.

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/discove...235201881/

The combined company will have Discovery CEO David Zaslav as CEO and Chairman, with current WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar leaving the company altogether. The company will be switching to a streaming-first approach like most of its competitors, but Zaslav said that the company plans a more wise investment in content, with spending being restricted to around US$10 billion in place of the current US$20 billion both companies spend on content. The result is a plan to compete in the streaming wars in a much more profitable way, even if the group has three streaming services: HBO Max, Discovery+ and the upcoming CNN+. The group plans to bundle all three of the services in the run-up of a possible merger to create a super-OTT platform.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busine...235097386/

The company also will have a grand portfolio of global brands: Adult Swim, All3Media (JV with Liberty Global), Alloy Entertainment, Animal Planet, Bleacher Report, Boomerang, Cartoon Network, Cartoonito, Cinemax, CNN Worldwide, The CW (with Paramount), DC Comics, Discovery Channel, Discovery Family (with Hasbro/eOne), the DMAX network, DKISS (Spain), Eurosport, Eve (Asia), Fatafeat (MENA), HBO, HGTV, HLN, Investigation Discovery, Food Network (with Nexstar), Grupa TVN Discovery (Poland), Joyn (Germany, with ProSiebenSat.1 Media), the Magnolia Network (with Chip and Joanna Gaines), Megamedia (Chile, with the Bethia company), Motor Trend (with Source Interlink), OWN (with Harpo Studios), Quest, Really, Rooster Teeth, the Science Channel, TBS, Tele 5 (Germany), TLC, TNT, Three (New Zealand), TruTV, Travel Channel, Turner Classic Movies, Turner Sports, Warner Bros., and Warner TV Europe, among many other brands.

As told in the Variety report, the merger is set to be completed in mid-April.

(EDIT 2022/04/08: Merger is being completed, the thread has been renamed to reflect the milestone).

[Omnipresent]

As expected, the progress of bringing together HBO Max and Discovery+ will start shortly after the merger:

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/hbo-max...235204060/

“One of the most important items here is that we believe in a combined product as opposed to a bundle… We believe that the breadth and depth of this content offering is going to be a phenomenal consumer value proposition,” Wiedenfels said. “The question is, in order to get to that point and do it in a way that’s actually a great user experience for our subscribers, that’s going to take some time. Again, that’s nothing that’s going to happen in weeks — hopefully not in years, but in several months — and we will start working on an interim solution in the meantime.

I doubt CNN+ will last long as a standalone service either.

[Keith]

It makes sense for them to merge their multiple streaming services into one. Realistically most people have a limit on the number of streaming services they can afford to subscribe to, and some people may have only been subscribed to one of these services. It presumably will also saves on the cost of maintaining three different apps and interfaces.

It was only about a month ago that Discovery announced it was increasing it's pricing from £4.99 to £6.99 per month. I wonder if this price rise was in anticipation of this, or whether there will be a further increase once services are merged. It was interesting to note they also launched an ad-lite £3.99 monthly subscription option at the same time, which will be interesting to see what that covers after the services have been merged.

[Rdd]

It’s an interesting one though, because I suspect more so than any other streamer, Discovery+ (leaving aside the sports stuff) has a niche proposition in the factual/documentary market, and I suspect many people could take or leave it. HBO on the other hand is a direct competitor to the likes of Netflix and Disney+ (if anything, a bit more premium, at least in the US). They make odd bedfellows in that regard, I know it will be one company soon but they are two quite different products with different target audiences.

[Brekkie]

How long is the HBO content tied up with Sky here?

[TVNerd]

How long is the HBO content tied up with Sky here?

Sky have the rights until 2025 https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2019/10/...-with-hbo/

[MrBiggieSMLZ]

I have been envisioning how the structure could play out, and I think WBD could probably consolidate theatrical exhibition, content distribution, consumer products and licencing into a "Global Entertainment" division - effectively assuming distribution of Warner Bros. and New Line films in a similar manner to Disney going forward. I do expect some immense streamlining to the point.

[Medianext.MX]

David Zaslav is clearing house at WarnerMedia before merging with Discovery next week (some biz media are expecting this might happen Friday after Nasdaq trading ends). After Jason Kilar and Jeff Zucker being out of the merged company in favour of Zaslav and Chris Licht, Ann Sarnoff and Andy Forsell are leaving the Studios and Networks division and HBO Max, respectively. Six other big executives are also affected.

Zaslav is reportedly appointing current Discovery HR VP Adria Alpert Romm as their SEVP Human Relations and Global Diversity to handle the transition, reportedly postponing eventually her retirement, planned for the end of the year, and they were reports Zaslav was trying to lure Netflix film boss Scott Stuber, Disney General Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice, and former Paramount Motion Pictures President Emma Watts for President, Warner Bros, after it was announced the newly merged group will drop the Studios and Networks position altogether.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busine...235125737/
https://deadline.com/2022/04/hbo-max-hea...234995173/
https://www.thewrap.com/6-warnermedia-ex...n-sarnoff/

[MrBiggieSMLZ]

David Zaslav is clearing house at WarnerMedia before merging with Discovery next week (some biz media are expecting this might happen Friday after Nasdaq trading ends). After Jason Kilar and Jeff Zucker being out of the merged company in favour of Zaslav and Chris Licht, Ann Sarnoff and Andy Forsell are leaving the Studios and Networks division and HBO Max, respectively. Six other big executives are also affected.

Zaslav is reportedly appointing current Discovery HR VP Adria Alpert Romm as their SEVP Human Relations and Global Diversity to handle the transition, reportedly postponing eventually her retirement, planned for the end of the year, and they were reports Zaslav was trying to lure Netflix film boss Scott Stuber, Disney General Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice, and former Paramount Motion Pictures President Emma Watts for President, Warner Bros, after it was announced the newly merged group will drop the Studios and Networks position altogether.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busine...235125737/
https://deadline.com/2022/04/hbo-max-hea...234995173/
https://www.thewrap.com/6-warnermedia-ex...n-sarnoff/

As it turns out, it seems like Zaz doesn't trust many WarnerMedia execs in joining his "holy crusade". Good thing we still have Toby Emmerich (WB Pictures chairman), Channing Dugney (WB TV chairwoman), and Casey Bloys (head of HBO/HBO Max) as a few survivors, though, now we just have to wait to see if they merge their theatrical and TV distribution businesses similar to how Disney did it!

[Medianext.MX]

Warner Bros. Discovery’s leadership team has been announced:

• David Zaslav, CEO

• Adria Alpert Romm, SEVP of Human Relations and Global Diversity

• Gunnar Wiedenfels, CFO

• Lori Locke, CAO (Chief Accounting Officer)

• David Levy, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer

• Bruce Campbell, Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer

• Savalle Sims, General Consuel

• Chris Licht, CEO and President of CNN Worldwide

• Kathleen Finch, president of US Cable Networks, overseeing Discovery’s and Turner’s entertainment and factual channels (Nancy Daniels, Brett Weitz and Tom Ascheim stay put as directors of their respective channels and divisions, as is Finch leading the lifestyle and true crime networks)

• Casey Bloys, CCO, HBO and HBO Max

• Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures

• Channing Dungey, Chairwoman, Warner Bros. Television

• Gerhard Zeiler, CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery International

• JB Perrette, CEO, HBO Max and Discovery+

The company will also nominate a Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer to compliment Adria Alpert Romm’s job, and a new global Chair and CEO for Sports, which will oversee Turner Sports, TNT Sports Latin America and Eurosport.

Additionally, the Board of Directors has been announced, which will be represented by Zaslav, John Malone, former BET chair Debra Lee, former PwC CEO Samuel A. DiPiazza Jr. (which will be Chairman of the new merged company), Li Haslett Chen (CEO of tech platform Narrativ, Barclays senior advisor Rich Fisher, Sixth Street Partners senior advisor Fazal Merchant, former Macy’s CEO Paula Price, Redpoint Ventures managing director Geoffrey Yang, Advance/Newhouse execs Steve Miron and Steve Newhouse, Hilltop Investments managing director Bob Bennett and Allen & Co. MD and EVP Paul Gould.

https://corporate.discovery.com/discover...discovery/

https://deadline.com/2022/03/discovery-s...234979430/

[XIII]

I assume the Warner Bros. Discovery logo will debut on Monday, they have a placeholder logo but can't imagine they'd use that one.

[Medianext.MX]

Big reorganisation underway: Chip and Joanna Gaines’ joint venture with (Warner Bros.) Discovery, Magnolia Network, will move to HBO Max oversight, and the joint venture’s president, Allison Page (a Scripps Networks veteran), will report directly to HBO CCO Casey Bloys. Maybe a sign of things to come, given Magnolia’s content launched on Discovery+ and is set to merge (as previously said) with HBO Max, but also surprising, given Magnolia was being overseen by Discovery’s lifestyle network executives.

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/chip-jo...235227484/

And, as Axios told earlier last month, HLN, which has gone downhill after the Headline Prime experiment, which later expanded to fit almost all of the channel’s schedule, and failing with social media and a soft news focus, before settling in the true crime fold (with Robin Meade in between), is reportedly being moved from CNN oversight into the Finch fold. Given the clashing formats between them and ID (although they have different storytelling approaches, HLN being more documentary-focused and ID having a much flashier, tabloid, re-enactment-driven presentation and star personalities on their shows), it looks like HLN is going to have its formatting changed or outrightly being merged with ID.

[Medianext.MX]

Something not exactly related, but when the behind the scenes mess was undergoing before tomorrow’s merger, Warner Bros. Pictures unveiled the official logo of the studio’s centenary celebration, which debuted during a company initiative commemorating the studio’s 99th anniversary on Monday, a fact which also coincided with the news of Ann Sarnoff’s sacking from the studio. The logo will be used during all communications starting next week (maybe even in the studio frontcap), when the merger is fully completed, and will continue until the anniversary is underway next year.

[ConorM98]

[quote=Medianext.MX post_id=77862 time= user_id=1455]
Something not exactly related, but when the behind the scenes mess was undergoing before tomorrow’s merger, Warner Bros. Pictures unveiled the official logo of the studio’s centenary celebration, which debuted during a company initiative commemorating the studio’s 99th anniversary on Monday, a fact which also coincided with the news of Ann Sarnoff’s sacking from the studio. The logo will be used during all communications starting next week (maybe even in the studio frontcap), when the merger is fully completed, and will continue until the anniversary is underway next year.

[XIII]

I think WB should go for a 100 year logo similar to how Fox did the 75 Years logo rather than just slap 100 years or 100th anniversary onto the current logo.

Speaking of anniversaries, I wonder if Disney might do a 100 year anniversary celebrations next year or will they wait until 2028 and celebrate Mickey Mouse turning 100.