AT&T's WarnerMedia & Discovery merger streaming consolidation 2 2

[Bosco685]

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Another round of layoffs has hit Warner Bros. Discovery. 

 

Employees in several different groups across the entertainment company have been impacted, including in the finance division, production and in business affairs. A very small number of employees were also laid off from WBD’s streaming service, Max, according to a source familiar with the matter. 

 

The layoffs come days after CNN, owned by WBD, announced layoffs of 100 staffers, or 3 percent of its workforce. Those layoffs were positioned as part of a broader reorganization of the cable news channel that includes plans to build several new digital products, launch paid offerings around lifestyle journalism and a push into AI.

 

The company has experienced several rounds of layoffs, including in the lead up to the merger between Warner Media and Discovery, and following, as CEO David Zaslav looked to find billions in cost savings post-merger.

 

The previous layoffs have included the Warner Bros. TV Group, the HBO Max and HBO teams, the shutting down of CNN+, which impacted hundreds of staffers, and another round of layoffs at CNN.

 

[Bosco685]

 

[paperheart]

On 7/18/2024 at 11:03 AM, Bosco685 said:

 

when all else fails, go biblical

[Buzzetta]

Meanwhile Dave Metlzer and Tony Khan truly believe that WB is going to give $1 billion for the TV rights for AEW (wrestling) despite declining ratings let alone empty venues with less than a few thousand tickets sold. 

SMH

[kimik]

The only clear winner from the merger is Zaslav. I guess AT&T won by dumping a decent amount of debt into WBD as well, but their share price has not done much since then.
 

 

[Bosco685]

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Warner Bros Discovery is reportedly looking to break off its streaming and studio businesses from its linear networks to energize its falling stock price.

 

WBD stock closed Wednesday at $8.34, +0.34%, but the media company is down from its 52-week high of $14.76 and currently has a $20.3 billion market cap.

 

WBD CEO David Zaslav is apparently weighing myriad option,s from selling assets to separating the movie studio and Max streaming service into a new company, free from the group’s current near-$40 billion debt. This is all per the Financial Times tonight. Deadline has reached out to Warner Bros Discovery for comment. We’ll update when they weigh in.

 

The news hits as WBD is making another round of layoffs, as Deadline reported first. In addition, longtime media analyst Jessica Reif Erlich two days ago begged WBD to do something — anything — from selling the company, to selling assets, to finding a streaming joint venture or merger. “In our view, the current composition as a consolidated public company is not working,” the BofA Global Research analyst said.

 

[paperheart]

lost the NBA rights to Amazon,etc 

Zas has been a disaster

Edited July 25 by paperheart

[Bosco685]

On 6/3/2021 at 4:05 PM, D84 said:

This is their logo?

"The stuff that dreams are made of"

Edited July 25 by Bosco685

[Pitboss]

This new move saves me bread bigtime. Dumped cable movie channels ($100ish) and dropped my Hulu/Disney/ESPN package ($30). 

[Cman429]

Seriously what does Zaslov have to do to be fired? The guy who replaced Iger at Disney wasn’t nearly as bad and they couldn’t wait to run him out of town. Zaslov has been in charge since Day 1 of the merger and has ruined HBO’s cred as an upscale prestige streamer, probably losing the NBA (they for sure want Amazon), wrecked the DCU, tanked the stock and ran up the debt. 

[Pitboss]

On 7/26/2024 at 1:58 AM, Pitboss said:

This new move saves me bread bigtime. Dumped cable movie channels ($100ish) and dropped my Hulu/Disney/ESPN package ($30). 

Hulu is the Hub for the new D+,Hulu and Max bundle. If you have trouble with changing over call them. Easy as pie. 

[kimik]

On 7/26/2024 at 2:43 AM, Cman429 said:

Seriously what does Zaslov have to do to be fired? The guy who replaced Iger at Disney wasn’t nearly as bad and they couldn’t wait to run him out of town. Zaslov has been in charge since Day 1 of the merger and has ruined HBO’s cred as an upscale prestige streamer, probably losing the NBA (they for sure want Amazon), wrecked the DCU, tanked the stock and ran up the debt. 

Unfortunately, the equity price was doomed from the start due to the amount of debt AT&T offloaded on it in the deal.

[Bosco685]

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Warner Bros. Discovery just realized its TV networks are worth $9.1 billion less than it originally thought, leading to a net loss of $10 billion in the second quarter of 2024.

 

The massive plummet in valuation is being recognized as a “non-cash goodwill impairment charge” primarily coming from the “Networks” section of the company. That must have been one eye-opening internal audit.

 

WBD blames the devastating change in value to the “difference between market capitalization and book value” due to a soft U.S. advertising market and “uncertainty” surrounding future carriage deals. And oh yeah, the loss of the NBA certainly doesn’t help.

 

[kimik]

That being said, at what point does the share price of WBD become lower than the break-up value?

[Bosco685]

Quote

Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery slid nearly 10% Wednesday, nearing all-time lows after the media conglomerate — heavily reliant on its pay-TV business — recorded a whopping $9.1 billion write-down reflecting the loss of value of several of its linear television networks.

 

In after-hours trading, WBD shares were down as low as $6.96 per share. The stock’s lowest closing price was on June 18, 2024, when it ended the day at $6.99 per share; it’s 52-week low intraday price is $6.94. Year to date, Warner Bros. Discovery shares were already down 34%.

 

As of the close of trading Wednesday, WBD’s market capitalization stood at $18.8 billion, compared with more than $50 billion following the closing of Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia in April 2022

Wow!!

[media_junkie]

Yet at the end of 2024 that Zaslov guy will have been paid another $300+ million for his "leadership/guidance".

[Bosco685]

On 8/8/2024 at 7:42 AM, media_junkie said:

Yet at the end of 2024 that Zaslov guy will have been paid another $300+ million for his "leadership/guidance".

Hollywood studios executive pay logic

""Well, I cranked out a bunch of content to fill the void while shutting down others!"

[Bosco685]

CEO performance key metric - bringing value

[Bosco685]

 

[Buzzetta]

Warner Brothers signs a deal with the Savannah Bananas starting August 16th

If you do not know who the Savannah Bananas are the best way to describe them are by calling them the Harlem Globetrotters of Baseball. 

 

https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/trutv-exclusively-televise-five-friday-night-savannah-bananas-games-starting-aug-16?language_content_entity=en

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TNT Sports’ programming block on truTV continues to expand its offerings, today announcing five consecutive weeks of live Friday night action from the Savannah Bananas’ Banana Ball World Tour this August and September. 

“The Greatest Show in Sports” will make a stop at Harbor Park Stadium in Norfolk, VA on Friday, Aug. 16, with truTV’s coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET. 

 

truTV will continue Banana Ball World Tour coverage throughout the rest of the summer on Friday nights: 

 

Date	Time (ET)	Stadium	Location	Network
Friday, Aug. 16	7 p.m.	Harbor Park Stadium	Norfolk, VA	truTV
Friday, Aug. 23	7 p.m.	Historic Grayson Stadium	Savannah, GA	truTV
Friday, Aug. 30	9 p.m.	Smith’s Ballpark	Salt Lake City, UT	truTV
Friday, Sept. 6	8 p.m.	Principal Park	Des Moines, IA	truTV
Friday, Sept. 13	7 p.m.	Historic Grayson Stadium	Savannah, GA	truTV

 

The Banana Ball World Tour showcases exhibition contests played by The Savannah Bananas and The Party Animals, two independent professional baseball teams whose entertaining Banana Ball brand of baseball includes choreographed team dances, over-the-top walk-ups by batters, epic scoring celebrations and more wacky moments that have taken social media by storm.

 

TNT Sports will televise nearly 1,000 hours of sports programming on truTV in 2024. Beginning this October, viewers will see TNT Sports branding and graphics dynamically integrated into the network’s primetime programming lineup. Additional Fall programming will include live games and event coverage from MLB Postseason, NBA, NHL, U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Soccer Teams, Mountain West football, MotoGP and more.

 

###

About TNT Sports

TNT Sports is a global leader in the delivery of premium sports content. The TNT Sports U.S. portfolio includes expansive, multi-platform partnerships with the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, National Hockey League, United States Soccer Federation, College Football Playoff games, Mountain West football, and, starting in 2025, NASCAR, Roland-Garros and BIG East basketball. Owned and operated platforms are highlighted by Bleacher Report, the #1 digital destination for young sports fans, along with House of Highlights, HighlightHER, Golf Digest, and a full suite of digital and social portfolio brands. Additionally, TNT Sports co-manages NBA Digital — comprised of NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE Pass, the NBA App and NBAGLEAGUE.com — as well as NCAA.com and NCAA March Madness Live. TNT Sports in Europe and the Republic of Ireland includes partnerships with the NBA, Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UFC, WWE and more, as well as much-loved brands Eurosport, Global Mountain Bike Network (GMBN) and multi-sport programming and content on discovery+ and Discovery’s free-to-air TV networks.

About Savannah Bananas
The Savannah Bananas are a baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia and play their home games at Historic Grayson Stadium, but they take the show on the road on their Banana Ball World Tour where they play their rivals The Party Animals and The Firefighters in Challenger Series. The team has been featured on ESPN, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Sports Illustrated and are made popular by their on-field hijinks and videos. The Bananas play their own version of baseball called Banana Ball which features new rules to make the game more fast-paced and entertaining.

 

Media Contacts:

TNT Sports

Jelani Downing

Jelani.Downing@wbd.com

Savannah Bananas

Sam Bauman

Sam@thesavannahbananas.com