WarnerMedia

As WarnerMedia’s John Stankey searches for a new studio chief following Kevin Tsujihara’s Monday exit as Warner Bros. chairman-CEO, he has put studio execs Toby Emmerich, Peter Roth and Kim Williams in charge.

WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey, who is overseeing AT&T’s takeover and integration of Time Warner, made $16.55 million in 2018, up 64% from $10.01 million a year before. In an SEC filing on Monday, AT&T also reported that CEO Randall Stephenson, whose giant telecommunications company also owns and runs DirecTV, saw his total compensation last year rise to $29.1 million, against a year-earlier $28.7 million.

WarnerMedia confirms it is reopening an investigation over questions of whether Warner Bros Entertainment chairman Kevin Tsujihara engaged in improper behavior by engaging in an extramarital relationship with actress Charlotte Kirk and then attempting to help her gain a foothold with roles in Warner Bros films.

Major media companies like Disney, Comcast, CBS and Fox are always jockeying for the rights to broadcast America’s most popular sports. AT&T may join their ranks. The telecommunications giant, through its WarnerMedia subsidiary “will certainly continue to be a significant player … to be aggressive when appropriate and strategic” in the sports-rights arena, says Jeff Zucker, who on Monday was named chairman of WarnerMedia’s news and sports properties.

Former NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt will run the company’s marquee HBO property as well as Turner cable networks TNT, TBS and truTV, among other properties that were previously run separately.

Jeff Zucker, the leader of cable-news outlet CNN, is about to add sports to his portfolio, giving him expanded oversight of more of the most valuable content in today’s media landscape — live programming. Zucker is expected to head AT&T’s Turner Sports, according to three people familiar with the matter, broadening his influence at the telecom giant as it moves quickly to re-organize WarnerMedia.

The other shoe has dropped at WarnerMedia, with word emerging Thursday that Turner chief David Levy is leaving. The news landed on the same day that HBO chief Richard Plepler also announced his exit. The two longtime executives have both been squeezed as the AT&T-owned company reconfigures its executive suite and refines its plans for an ambitious new streaming service launching by the end of the year.

Disney wants to get even more control over Hulu: The company is in active discussions with AT&T to acquire the 10% stake that WarnerMedia owns in the streaming joint venture.

Bringing on Bob Greenblatt, former NBC Entertainment chairman, could be part of a broader shake-up at the AT&T-owned company.

WarnerMedia’s forthcoming streaming service will bring together its “treasure trove” of 42,000 hours of content from HBO as well as brands such as DC, Looney Tunes, Turner, The CW and CNN after Kevin Reilly for the first time lifted the lid on the content that will fuel the platform.

Kevin Reilly, president of TBS and TNT and chief creative officer for Turner Entertainment, is expanding his role at WarnerMedia to also oversee creative for the company’s upcoming direct-to-consumer streaming platform. He will keep his current Turner responsibilities.

AT&T’s advertising unit, Xandr, will be at the center of its effort to transform the video advertising business. “Consumers clearly like the breadth of content that is available today. They like the choice. And a lot of that choice comes on the back of ad-supported models,” WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey said.

WarnerMedia’s nascent streaming service will launch in beta form by the end of 2019 with three tiers of programming options: an “entry-level” package focused on movies; a premium service with “original programming and blockbuster movies” and a third “that bundles content from the first two plus an extensive library of WarnerMedia and licensed content.”

WarnerMedia’s library of 7,000 films and 5,000 shows may not alone be enough to face off against a streaming giant that is spending up to $13 billion annually, so an NBCUniversal team-up could make sense.

Veteran media and tech executive Michael J. Wolf predicts that established media brands — including The Walt Disney Co. and WarnerMedia — will be among the handful of winners in the emerging direct-to-consumer world.

AT&T’s WarnerMedia has approached Comcast’s NBCUniversal to discuss ways of working together, including about licensing films or TV shows for WarnerMedia’s planned new streaming service, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The approach signals that AT&T wants to strengthen its hand in competing with Walt Disney, Netflix and other rivals.

AT&T Inc’s WarnerMedia has accused the U.S. Department of Justice of “collaborating” with Dish Network in a high profile dispute over carrying HBO and Cinemax.

WarnerMedia joins an armada of well-funded competitors looking to take on Netflix’s over-the-top dominance, but a crowded landscape may become a zero-sum game.

WarnerMedia is joining Disney in the race to launch a global direct to consumer streaming platform next year. WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey unveiled the plan Wednesday during his address at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in Los Angeles. Stankey said the company will mine its library and content engines to create such a service by the end of 2019. The new platform will be fronted by HBO.

WarnerMedia says it has secured the rights for a pay-per-view event it is promoting as “The Match.” It will be 18 holes between Woods and Mickelson held Thanksgiving weekend at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. The winner will receive $9 million.

Change is coming to HBO, now that it is part of the AT&T corporate family. That much was clear to the 150 employees who attended a recent town hall meeting at the network’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. The main speaker was John Stankey, a longtime AT&T executive who now oversees HBO in his new role as chief executive of WarnerMedia. “It’s going to be a tough year,” Stankey said. “It’s going to be a lot of work to alter and change direction a little bit.”