Warner Bros. Discovery

As Major League Baseball‘s post-season continues, Warner Bros. Discovery wants to talk baseball or beisbol. Starting Oct. 16, the company’s sports division will launch “Postseason ALTcast: Peloteros,” a so-called “alterna-cast” that will feature cultural conversations centered on the NLCS and the game of baseball as told through diverse voices and representation within the Hispanic community. The broadcast will appear on the TruTV cable network and the Max streaming hub while the traditional game broadcast appears on TBS and Max.

The potential end of the Hollywood writers strike sparked a jump on Monday in movie and streaming industry stocks, led by Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount with shares of Disney, AMC Entertainment, and Netflix also rising. Warner Bros and Paramount were the biggest gainers, up 1.44% and 1.5%, respectively. Disney rose 0.5%, while AMC was up 0.6%. Netflix edged higher by 0.5%.

David Zaslav said today that Warner Bros. Discovery had anticipated putting Hollywood strikes in the rear-view mirror this month, but with no end in sight, he added that “we” would “fight” to find a resolution. “I was in L.A. the last two days, and we really have to focus as industry — and we are trying — to get this resolved in a way that is really fair and everyone feels fairly treated,” he told investors at a Goldman Sachs media conference. “In our guidance, we said that this would be resolved in September. And here we are in September. And this is really a very unusual event to have. The last time it happened was 1960. And so what we did is, we just said we are really going to fight to get this resolved.”

The financial impact of ongoing actors and writers strikes has a number on it now, or one at least, as Warner Bros. Discovery said today it’s looking at a hit of $300 million to $500 million in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for 2023 due to the work stoppages.

Amazon.com Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. are competing to broadcast a new package of Nascar races, with the league trying to boost its overall revenue by bringing in more media partners. The companies are vying with a third broadcaster for a package of between six and eight races during the summer months, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations.

The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, a conglomerate that includes Warner Bros. studios, CNN and HBO, takes on an entertainment business in turmoil.

Jackson was EVP and head of global content supply chain, but quietly left the business in recent months.

Warner Bros. Discovery reported spotty financial results in the second quarter, but delivered better-than-expected free cash flow. The company posted a loss per share of 51 cents, which was worse than the 42 cents expected by Wall Street analysts. Revenue dipped 4% from the prior-year quarter to come in at $10.358 billion, a shade less than the Street’s number. Ditto streaming subscriber numbers, which showed a loss of 1.8 million subscribers and a tally of 95.8 million.

Marybeth Strobel and Greg Regis lead agency-focused teams, while Jon Diament heads sports sales.

Several of the country’s biggest entertainment and streaming companies are teaming up to fight hundreds of local broadcasters over a years-old provision that would determine whether they are forced to negotiate directly with those local stations for distribution deals.  The Preserve Viewer Choice Coalition, which launched Wednesday, is made up of major entertainment companies and their broadcast networks, including Disney/ABC, Paramount/CBS, Fox Corp./Fox, NBCUniversal/NBC/Telemundo, Warner Bros. Discovery, Univision and Roku.

Warner Bros Discovery President of International TV Distribution Robert Blair is leaving after 25 years with the company. In an internal memo, WBD President of International Gerhard Zeiler announced Blair’s departure and revealed he would not be replaced.

The writer said he asked to have his byline removed after GQ made extensive changes after publication. The magazine removed the story instead.

Executives from Warner Bros. Discovery, Sinclair, Tegna, Ross Video and TAG shared the latest in how they’re using the cloud to gain new flexibility and efficiency, from unlocking AI’s progress to “decomposing” news workflows and building “digital backlots,” in a TVNewsCheck webinar last week.

Those three are stepping up to help curate programming for Turner Classic Movies, amid a tumultuous week of layoffs and leadership changes that had fans worried about the future of the channel. L-r: Filmmakers Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.

After spending months keeping CNN from expanding into streaming, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery appears to have changed its mind. Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring ways to get more CNN programing on to its Max streaming service, according to a person familiar with the matter, looking at the news outlet’s broader portfolio to see what content might work. Executives will have to navigate agreements with CNN’s traditional distributors that often require cable and satellite companies get first access to CNN’s live broadcasts.

The first half of 2023 has been a colossal disappointment for media executives who wanted this year to be a rebound from a terrible 2022, when a slowdown in streaming subscribers cut valuations for Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global roughly in half. Instead, investors have once again become excited by Netflix’s future prospects as it’s cracked down on password sharing, potentially leading to tens of millions of new signups. Netflix shares have surged the past five months, outpacing the S&P 500. Meanwhile, the legacy players can’t get out of their own way.

Amid mounting concern for the future of Turner Classic Movies following the latest in restructuring at Warner Bros Discovery, CEO David Zaslav has looked to assuage fears by placing the channel under the creative control of Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, the co-chairs and CEOs of Warner Bros. Film Group,

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.

Warner Bros. Discovery is undergoing another round of layoffs in its television business and it’s started Tuesday. The layoffs, which were described by insiders as “pockets of refinement” rather than wholesale cuts, are happening in its cable TV business, which includes the Discovery-branded cable networks and Turner networks.

The media giant, which is saddled with a hefty debt load following the close of its merger last year, has been working to cut costs and make its streaming business profitable. The financial update, announced Wednesday, had been overshadowed by the turmoil at its news outlet CNN, where CEO Chris Licht was ousted.

The owners of All3Media, Britain’s largest independent TV production company, are exploring options that include cashing out on their joint venture in a deal worth more than 1 billion pounds ($1.26 billion), three people familiar with the matter said. Liberty Global and Warner Bros. Discovery are considering selling their stakes in All3Media to a third party or one of them buying the other out, the sources said.

Leaders from Warner Bros. Discovery, Sinclair, Tegna, TAG Video Systems and Ross Video will discuss how the cloud’s use for live production is likely to advance this year in a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch Webinar on June 22 at 1 p.m. ET. Register here.

The company is expected to cut some roles in its cable TV business, which includes the Discovery-branded cable networks. It’s been described as “pockets of refinement” rather than wholesale cuts and sources have said that cable staffers have been bracing themselves over the last couple of weeks.

David Zaslav was met with boos and jeers while delivering a commencement address Sunday at Boston University amid the Hollywood writers’ strike. In videos circulating on social media, graduating students and protesters can be heard chanting, “pay your writers,” and heckling the president of Warner Bros. Discovery as he speaks about lessons he learned throughout his career. A photo of an airplane flying over the ceremony with a banner that read, “David Zaslav — Pay your writers,” was also circulating online.

Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav thinks consolidation is in the cards for streaming platforms, but not necessarily through traditional M&A. “There should be a consolidation, but it is more likely to happen in the repackaging and marketing of products together. That’s what I think makes sense. We have to, as industry, reach that point,” he said during a Q&A at a media conference today. Mergers carry regulatory risks and can take years to close. In a fast-changing industry, “Who knows what the world looks like?”

With an upfront presentation and the upfront market a week away, Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Ad Sales has added new measurement partners. The list includes 605, ABCS Insights, DISQO, EDO, LoopMe and Pilotly —  to add “greater attribution and efficacy of advertising campaigns” to work on cross-platform and advanced audience deals.

After media companies have lost billions of dollars making the pivot from linear TV to streaming, CEO David Zaslav declared that Warner Bros. Discovery’s business is no longer hemorrhaging red ink. “Here in the U.S., our streaming business is no longer a bleeder,” Zaslav said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call Friday. “It’s hard to run a business when you have a big bleeder.”

Warner Bros Discovery matched Wall Street estimates for revenue in the first quarter today, with $10.7 billion, but posted a wider-than-expected loss due to tough comparisons with the year-ago period. Net losses reached 44 cents a share, worse than the 5-cent loss analysts had forecast. Streaming, though, provided a rare bright spot, posting $50 million in EBITDA after several quarters in the red. The company pronounced it a “meaningful turn” and said it now expects the streaming operation to become profitable a year earlier than it expected.

In a Wednesday Securities and Exchange Commission filing, WBD stated that President-CEO Zaslav’s executive comp package totaled $39.3 million last year. $3.1 million of that sum was his salary, with the rest being stock awards ($12 million), stock option awards ($1.4 million), non-equity incentive plan comp ($21.8 million) and “all other” compensation ($925,489). While Zaslav’s pay is down considerably from 2021, it’s important to note the reason behind the major dip is an unprecedented $203 million stock option grant that inflated his total 2021 compensation package to a staggering $246.6 million.

Celebrating “the stuff that dreams are made of,” Warner Bros. Discovery’s TCM cable network will mark the 100th anniversary of the Warner Bros. studio with 30 days of special programming. Beginning April 1, the channel will screen legendary films from every decade of the studio’s existence, including 10 films being shown for the first time since being restored. (Some of the films will also be available on the Classics Curated by TCM Hub on HBO Max.) Pictured, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz on the Warner Bros. lot.

Warner Bros. Discovery says it will partner with Comscore and VideoAmp for “alternative currencies” when it comes to making deals with national advertisers across its linear TV and advanced advertising inventory for this year’s upfront ad market.

Warner Bros. Discovery received stock upgrades from two media analyst firms Friday for, among other things, making the decision to tie bonuses for CEO David Zaslav and his team to free cash flow performance. “We threw everything and the kitchen sink at a Downside Case scenario for WBD, and it still delevers to 3x by ’25E,” Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a research note published Friday, in which they upgraded WBD’s stock to “overweight” with a price target increase from $13 to $20 per share. “We now have conviction in FCF to limit downside, while the stock has asymmetric upside.”

March Madness is expected to rake in more than $1 billion for TV partners CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery as it plays out from March 14 until the winning team is crowned on April 3. “March Madness gives advertisers audience levels they cannot find anywhere else,” says one buyer.

Warner Bros. Discovery has tweaked its CEO’s employment contract, granting a bigger pot of restricted stock units but linking them to free cash flow targets. David Zaslav, who is currently entitled to receive annual performance-related restricted stock (PRSU) awards with an initial value of $12 million, could now double the number of shares underlying that if the company meets certain targets. And he’s also eligible to receive an additional PRSU award valued at $11.5 million a year.