Discovery

Discovery Channel’s 35th annual presentation led by actor Jason Momoa dominated primetime across linear and streaming.

While it is unclear exactly which assets are on the table, a source says that the rights to “slightly less than half” of the catalog, with a price of around $500 million, are likely to go to a major label, with Sony said to be in the lead.

The decision reflects concerns that some Discovery+ subscribers might not want to move to a pricier platform.

The yanking of Westworld and Love Life from the streamer is designed to appease Wall Street, not consumers, one expert says.

Warner Bros. Discovery just moved up its streaming timeline. The company previously announced it’d be merging HBO Max and Discovery+ by next summer. However, during an earnings call on Thursday, WBD said consumers could expect a combined streaming offering in the spring. CEO David Zaslav noted that the company has been “very hard at work” toward that goal.

Warner Bros. Discovery sets its direct-to-consumer strategy — which includes a new FAST offering.

Rumors on Twitter run amok that the anticipated rollup of HBO Max and Discovery+ won’t be something most of us like.

There were constant reminders of the diminished influence of broadcast television networks this past week, when entertainment companies Paramount, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal and Fox hawked their upcoming wares to advertisers in flashy New York presentations. None was more glaring than the fact that Craig Erwich and Kelly Kahl, chiefs of the ABC and CBS entertainment divisions, watched from the sidelines. (Image: Associated Press)

Discovery is cleaning house among the top ranks at WarnerMedia ahead of the close of the two companies’ merger, which is expected to occur on Friday, with six more executives shown the door on Wednesday, Variety has learned. According to a WarnerMedia spokesperson, the newly cut WarnerMedia players include: Jennifer Biry — chief financial officer; Jim Cummings — EVP, chief human resources officer; Tony Goncalves — EVP, chief revenue officer; Christy Haubegger — EVP, communications and chief inclusion officer; Jim Meza — EVP, general counsel, WarnerMedia; and Richard Tom — chief technology officer.

Following other major network groups’ new data deals for the upcoming TV ad upfront, Discovery said it will be using TV analytics company EDO as a “preferred behavioral measurement partner” to measure ad campaigns for marketers’ business outcomes. EDO will give brands TV commercial airings connected to engagement data via the EDO Ad EnGage product — to be used by Discovery during the upfronts for its advertising clients.

Ann Sarnoff, who has held a top film and TV studio role at WarnerMedia for nearly three years, is departing the company as it gets set to merge with Discovery. News of her exit spread quickly Tuesday. It will take effect upon the close of the $43 billion merger, which is something of a moving target but getting closer to becoming reality. Regulators will determine the exact timeline of when the transaction can be officially consummated, but indications are that it will happen Friday.

The company disclosed latest annual compensation details for its top executives, with the calculation for Zaslav getting a huge boost from stock options he received as part of a contract extension.

Discovery investors voted in approval of the company’s $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T to create Warner Bros. Discovery during a special meeting of stockholders on Friday, marking one of the final formal steps before the transaction can close. The deal, a spinoff of WarnerMedia from AT&T, is expected to be completed early in the second quarter, with insiders estimating between April 11 and 28. The merger has already received approval from the U.S. Department of Justice and the boards of directors of both AT&T and Discovery.

Discovery shareholders are set to OK the $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia on Friday, the last big step before AT&T completes the spinoff. Ahead of the deal’s expected close next month, a who’s-in/who’s-out parlor game is gaining intensity as CEO David Zaslav finalizes the leadership team.

Investors piled into Discovery Inc.’s $30 billion U.S. investment-grade corporate bond deal on Wednesday to finance its mashup with AT&T’s WarnerMedia, a bullish sign for markets rattled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Discovery said today it ended the fourth quarter with 22 million DTC subscribers, up from 20 million for 3Q. The bulk of subs are from Discovery+. Revenue rose 10% to $3.2 million, ahead of Wall Street forecasts on higher advertising and distribution. Free cash flow, a key metric, increased 78% to $784 million.

AT&T and State Farm are the latest big advertisers to experiment with new ways of figuring out just who is watching TV – and the commercials that support it. The two marketers are among those who are taking part in an alliance between Discovery and Omnicom Media Group. Under the pact, a handful of Omnicom clients, including the telecom and insurance giants, will test new ways of tabulating linear TV audiences using Comscore and VideoAmp, and examine recent viewership data.

Ever since Jeff Zucker seized the reins at CNN in early 2013, the cable-news network has been one of loudest voices in media circles. Now, even though Discovery didn’t push the executive out, there’s a sense the company will, after it buys CNN along with the rest of WarnerMedia, look to turn down the volume.

Forty-eight hours after one of the media business’ more stunning executive exits in recent memory, speculation continues to swirl as to who, if anyone, put the knife in the back of former CNN chief Jeff Zucker, and what will happen now to the cable news network and its soon-to-launch digital offshoot, CNN Plus. On Friday, in separate CNBC appearances, Discovery CEO David Zaslav and AT&T chief executive John Stankey each, somewhat indirectly, addressed those concerns.

Broadcasters are wending through a C-band repack now operating on an accelerated timeline with completion slated for Dec. 2023. The process is humming along much more smoothly than the RF repack that preceded it. Above, Sinclair Broadcast Group HEVC uplink gear.

AT&T may be leaning toward a straightforward spinoff of the 71% stake in the new Warner Bros. Discovery in the coming months rather than a complex “split-off,” or exchange offer. A transaction in one of those forms will take place when AT&T merges its WarnerMedia business with Discovery.

Discovery Inc. was by far the most prolific commissioner of TV shows last year and it extended the lead it established in 2020. According to research from Ampere Analysis, Discovery commissioned 556 first-run TV titles in 2021, 153 more than second-place ViacomCBS with 406. Netflix came in third with 403 followed by Disney, the BBC and Comcast with 387, 373, and 353 first-run shows, respectively. Discovery could likely extend its lead again this year if the company closes its merger with WarnerMedia and adds HBO and Turner to its portfolio.

Discovery joins Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS as a minority owner in the advanced advertising company as part of a joint venture.

As Discovery is poised to conclude a transformational merger with WarnerMedia by the middle of next year, it’s Zaslav’s job to make sure that company, Warner Bros. Discovery, will be well positioned to evolve and thrive amid a torrent of market disruption. Zaslav speaks about the business challenges ahead for the enlarged entity that he will lead as CEO, assuming the $43 billion merger secures regulatory approval.

Broadcasters and their technology vendors are carefully moving from traditional capital expenditure models to software-based operational expenditure models. A Discovery executive says it’s about time as the industry moves toward its own distribution costs being based on volume.

Discovery reported its third-quarter 2021 financials early Wednesday morning. Wall Street had forecast earnings per share (EPS) of 41 cents on $3.14 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate compiled by Yahoo Finance. Discovery reported diluted EPS of 24 cents on $3.15 billion in revenue. That revenue figure was up 23% from the comparable quarter last year, with growth of 12% domestically and 44% internationally. Expenses also soared: +26% in the U.S. and +77% overseas.

A Discovery Inc. executive said Friday that the U.S.-owned company will fight hard to keep control of a television network it owns in Poland, a $3 billion investment that is threatened by a new media bill that passed in parliament this week.

Discovery President-CEO David Zaslav ramped up his ire for TV ratings giant Nielsen during a Tuesday conference call tied to Discovery’s second-quarter earnings. The future calls for “better data” than the long-standing measurement currency company offers, Zaslav said. “Unfortunately, Nielsen is a whiff. And it’s just massively disappointing. We have lost money. Everyone has lost money. You’re dealing with a very antiquated delivery system.”

Advertising rebounded strongly in the second quarter, enabling Discovery Communications to easily beat Wall Street’s estimates. Total revenue climbed 21% over the prior-year quarter, reaching $3.06 billion, as earnings per share hit $1.01. Analysts had expected revenue of $2.97 billion and earnings of 85 cents. Ad revenue in the U.S. rose 12% and the company noted it completed a record-setting upfront process during the quarter, which ended June 30. Distribution revenue also increased 12%.

The couple known for restoring old homes and buildings into styles varying from industrial to farmhouse are making the transition to TV executives with Thursday’s launch of the first steps toward their Magnolia Network. It will feature dozens of hours of new unscripted content and archive shows.