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AT&T's WarnerMedia & Discovery merger streaming consolidation
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Started by Bosco685,

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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In late February, the discussions took on urgency in part because Netflix and Disney released financial data indicating that their streaming platforms were growing by leaps and bounds during pandemic conditions. WarnerMedia was seeing traction with HBO Max after Warner Bros.’ movies started to land on the service day-and-date with theatrical releases.

 

“With Disney accelerating at that point because of COVID, I just looked at that and thought who could take that on? Who could be a global offering that formidable,” Zaslav said. “When you put us together — Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Sex and the City,’ HBO and Discovery being everywhere in the world with local content — we’re better together. I’ve been doing deals my whole life. The standard always is, are you better together? In this case were are not just better together. We are the best media company in the world, more global than anyone else with all the news, sports, entertainment and huge tentpoles that we bring together.”

 

The enlarged Discovery-WarnerMedia will have massive reach across news, sports, unscripted, lifestyle content and some of entertainment’s biggest franchises and tentpole events from the HBO and Warner Bros. imprimaturs.

 

“It’s going to be a really a fabulous company with all the pieces to be successful globally — sports, news, the best TV production library in the world, an extraordinary motion picture studio with the best talent,” Zaslav said. “It’s just going to be a really formidable opportunity.”

 

“We’ll be competing against Netflix and Disney. In telecom its AT&T versus Verizon and T Mobile. We’ll use this momentum, this single-minded focus to build,” Zaslav said. “And 70 percent of (AT&T) shareholders will be on the boat with me through our ride the media business with all of its opportunities and challenges. We have a real shot not to just get over the finish line but create our own kind of path.”

 

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theCapraAegagrus

theCapraAegagrus

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2 hours ago, Bosco685 said:

hm

Maybe he does understand the DC properties more than realized

Okay, but does he understand the monumental difference between using Josstice League as canon vs using ZSJL as canon? The difference between blackwashing Clark Kent vs Val-Zod, Calvin Ellis, or Steel?

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Bosco685

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1 minute ago, Angel of Death said:

Okay, but does he understand the monumental difference between using Josstice League as canon vs using ZSJL as canon? The difference between blackwashing Clark Kent vs Val-Zod, Calvin Ellis, or Steel?

We are a long ways off from knowing this. But as we see exec staff announcements coming out, including how to maximize the DC portfolio in film and streaming, we'll know then whether or not the right foundation is being established.

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Bosco685

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Even the Mile High Comics owner is hopeful for DC based on this news.

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My only other bit of news for today is a quick report on AT&T’s forced divestiture of Time/Warner. I mentioned about six months back that the managers of AT&T grossly overpaid when they acquired Time/Warner in 2016, and yesterday’s machinations to merge that unit into Discovery Networks is finally their acknowledgement of their total failure. The new entity will still have AT&T as a 71% stockholder, but its primary purpose is to offload Time/Warner’s excessive debt from their balance sheet. I do think this may be good news for DC Comics (a division of Time/Warner), as the new owners are at least competent content providers, and not just cold-hearted pencil-pushers out to save their own miserable skins. I am hopeful that the new owners will see the value of DC as a publishing entity, and may even throw a few investment dollars their way. Fingers crossed... 

I take it he is a not a fan of the previous leadership. (:

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Bosco685

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David Zaslav will stay on as Discovery CEO through at least 2027, leading the massive joint venture with WarnerMedia announced on Monday, sources tell Axios.

 

Driving the news: Zaslav's new contract will be announced next week in conjunction with the name of the new company that he just unveiled with AT&T CEO John Stankey.

 

Zaslav's previous contract extended through 2023. He has led Discovery since 2007.


Before that, Zaslav spent years with NBCUniversal, helping to develop and launch CNBC and MSNBC. He is a close friend and mentee of billionaire media mogul John Malone, who will sit on the board of the new joint venture.


Details: Sources say Zaslav, 61, will bring most of his C-suite executives at Discovery over to take on executive positions at the new joint venture. Discovery will lead the joint venture, although AT&T will have majority ownership.

 

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Bosco685

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"John [CEO John Stankey] rode shotgun on both of the big deals they have now unwound in the last few months [Time Warner and DirectTV]. He was very much a driver of the DirectTV deal and very much a driver of the Time Warner deal," explained MoffettNathanson media analyst Craig Moffett on Yahoo Finance Live. 

 

As for the legacy of AT&T's media foray, Moffett is clear-headed on it. 

 

"It is rare that you see a management team and a board actually acknowledge so clearly that they made a terrible mistake and that they're willing to undo it. So I actually give them some credit for it. Now it's not to say it doesn't leave behind a tremendous amount of wreckage, right? I mean they spent $175 billion for these assets and then three years later, they are unwinding those positions for what is kind of in theory, i guess, about $80 billion or so. So they destroyed a ton of value, but not many companies are willing to admit they made a mistake right away," Moffett said.

 

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Bosco685

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3 hours ago, Broke as a Joke said:

So Marvel is owned by Disney and DC is now owned by Discovery Network.  

Wow. Talk about short end of the straw...

It really is nuts. Where at least Disney clearly knows how to maximize its properties via films and merchandizing, others many times feel like an ever-continuing science experiment.

Something about this new CEO so far feels like he has a plan. And at least with Discovery he made sure they were widely distributed internationally. To include as soon as they rolled out their streaming service, Discovery ensured they had all the key players lined up for subscribers.

DISCOVERY, INC. GO-LIVE ANNOUNCEMENT (January 4, 2021)

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New York, NY – January 4, 2021 – discovery+, the definitive non-fiction, real-life subscription streaming service from Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), is now live in the U.S. as the company announced major new distribution agreements that will make the product one of the most widely distributed streaming services at launch. discovery+ is available on the following platforms and devices:

  • Amazon Fire TV streaming devices, Fire TV Edition smart TVs and coming later to Prime Video Channels
  • iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple TV, and the app is fully integrated with the Apple TV app
  • Google devices and platforms including Android™ phones and tablets, Chromecast with Google TV™ and other Android TV™ OS devices, and Google Chromecast™ and Chromecast built-in™devices
  • Microsoft Xbox One and Series S/X devices
  • The Roku® platform
  • 2017 and newer Samsung Smart TVs

In addition to previously announced discovery+ partnerships with Verizon in the U.S. and Sky in the U.K. and Ireland, it was announced today that Discovery and Vodafone have signed a new long-term, multi-platform agreement that includes a collaboration to make discovery+ available to existing Vodafone TV and mobile customers in 12 markets across Europe. The multi-year deal, which covers Vodafone’s subscriber bases in the UK*, Germany, Turkey*, Italy, Spain, Romania, Portugal, Greece, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland and Iceland, gives Discovery access to 100M Vodafone homes to which discovery+ can be made available for a promotional period that will vary by market.

Maybe this is the mature leadership kick in the pants WarnerMedia needed with someone that is seen as a multimedia solid industry visionary.

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Bosco685

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WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, whose position was destabilized last week after Discovery and AT&T announced plans for a merger, says he will remain as CEO until the end of 2021.

 

“My plan and my focus is to remain here in my CEO role at WarnerMedia. I am not thinking right now about post-merger,” he said during a town hall meeting with employees today. “There will be a time to consider that topic in 2022.”

 

Multiple press reports after the announcement of AT&T’s planned spinoff of WarnerMedia into a new entity run by Discovery CEO David Zaslav, indicated that Kilar had been blindsided by the news. When AT&T CEO John Stankey was asked by reporters about Kilar’s role in the new company, he said it would be up to Zaslav.

 

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