Warner Bros. Discovery

[Action Newsroom 1111]

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar has left the company ahead of its merger with Discovery.

[Georgie56 2972]

Variety reports the merger could close as early as Friday.

[Action Newsroom 1111]

More exits ahead of the merger:

- HBO Max head Andy Forssell

- Studios & Networks Chief Ann Sarnoff

[Action Newsroom 1111]

Six more execs have departed:

- CFO Jennifer Biry

- Jason Kilar’s right hand corp comm person Christy Haubegger who is also the Chief Inclusion Officer

- EVP Chief Human Resources Officer Jim Cummings

- EVP Chief Revenue Officer Tony Goncalves

- EVP General Counsel Jim Meza

- Chief Technology Officer Richard Tom

[NowBergen 448]

The article I read is that some decided to resign rather than accept new positions.  It is typical of most corporate mergers.

[detroiter313 178]

I got two small questions relating to this merger: What is the main impetus of this deal and will there be cross-promotions between the networks despite the majority of programming on all Discovery networks is more reality/scripted driven?

 

[Action Newsroom 1111]

The leadership structure at WBD is set, with mostly Discovery executives in head roles. WB TV Group Chairwoman Channing Dungey, Warners Charman Toby Emmerich and HBO & HBO Max Chief Casey Bloys remain in their post-WarnerMedia roles.

[channel2 865]

On 4/6/2022 at 8:09 PM, detroiter313 said:

I got two small questions relating to this merger: What is the main impetus of this deal and will there be cross-promotions between the networks despite the majority of programming on all Discovery networks is more reality/scripted driven?

 

 

The impetus for this deal is that Zaz wants to be in the top echelon of moguls, opportunities to buy media monoliths like WarnerMedia are rare, and AT&T was willing to dump WarnerMedia for a relative bargain.

[Georgie56 2972]

From Variety.

[Georgie56 2972]

Here it is, the official WBD logo.

[The Frog 383]

The deal has closed.

 

Say hello to the new multimedia behemoth.

 

[mre29 1262]

I look forward to all the corporate synergy that will arise..

 

"And now, the HBO Max Original Series, My 600-Pound Life."

 

(Am I being facetious? Absolutely. But that show actually does exist on TLC...)

 

[noggi 546]

45 minutes ago, mre29 said:

I look forward to all the corporate synergy that will arise..

 

"And now, the HBO Max Original Series, My 600-Pound Life."

 

(Am I being facetious? Absolutely. But that show actually does exist on TLC...)

 

Two hours of watching someone drink gallons of Pepsi for breakfast just to find out in the last 30 seconds they died. It’s not a bad show. 

[tyrannical bastard 3249]

I"m looking forward to a MythBusters episode where they test the Tom & Jerry antics (they did one on the Simpsons years back!)

Same goes for Roadrunner & Wile E. Coyote since they've always been a Warner Bros. thing, while T&J came thru the Turner/MGM purchase in the 80s where he ended up with most of the MGM content post-purchase and kept after the re-sale of MGM/UA.

 

And someone earlier mentioned that Jabberjaw and Shark Week are now under the same parent company  

 

 

Next move, could Nexstar trade in their 31 percent ownership of the Food Network(s) subsidiary in exchange for all or part of the CW?  We shall see....

Edited April 9, 2022 by tyrannical bastard

[ABC 7 Denver 1494]

Given the logo, I'm about 85% certain that within 5 years, the brand will drop the Discovery name all together and the company will be known as Warner Brothers.

[Action Newsroom 1111]

WBD held a town hall earlier today. Highlights include Zazlav and Oprah Winfrey discussing how the merger came to be, staff cuts, and the future of CNN under Chris Licht.

[panewswatcher69 26]

Discussion of possible Comcast NBCUniversal merger with Warner Brothers Discovery.

 

https://www.cbr.com/comcast-purchase-warner-bros-discovery-merge-nbcuniversal/

[CLETVFan 362]

That would be a shock to have all of those channels under one roof.

[tyrannical bastard 3249]

1 hour ago, CLETVFan said:

That would be a shock to have all of those channels under one roof.

As long as NBCUniversal is the surviving company.  Warner Brothers in any form has been a train wreck, they don't even know how to deal with their own content, yet alone all of the content they've acquired over the years.

[Jase 806]

2 hours ago, CLETVFan said:

That would be a shock to have all of those channels under one roof.

It’s just too much content to manage. There’s no way they could make it work without cutting a lot of content, people, etc… to make it make sense financially.

[atlnews2 537]

I don’t see how this could pass regulatory approval 

[mrschimpf 1856]

28 minutes ago, atlnews2 said:

I don’t see how this could pass regulatory approval 

The Paramount Decree is no longer in effect, so on that end it would have to depend on the SEC regarding the film studios. That's why they'd test the waters with this merger attempt.

 

For the TV side, a lot of channels would be cut by Comcast. Discovery, TLC, HGTV, Food, USA, ID, Bravo, TBS and TNT are safe no matter what, but by then Oxygen will have completed its OTA move and networks like Discovery Life, Travel, Discovery Family (why WBD didn't shut this down on day one makes no sense), Animal Planet, TruTV and Destination America and their ilk will be gone. Universal Kids is pretty much a YouTube playlist on autopilot running out the string at this point.

[gbsgeo 18]

It’s crazy how CNN and NBC News would be under one. 

[Newsjunkie24 494]

I don't see this happening with NBCU and WBD merging. That's almost breaking antitrust laws and would lead to several congresspeople asking the DOJ to block it. Also, what would happen to CNN and Turner Sports if this were to go through?

 

Losing both the Travel Channel and Animal Planet would be a travesty in my opinion as both channels have been staples for decades though.

[TheSpeedKing 263]

15 hours ago, panewswatcher69 said:

Discussion of possible Comcast NBCUniversal merger with Warner Brothers Discovery.

 

https://www.cbr.com/comcast-purchase-warner-bros-discovery-merge-nbcuniversal/

Wth. As if one merger wasn’t enough. If we all just watched BBC, CBC or PBS maybe the private companies would actually start to compete and not just M&A to one monolith.