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AT&T boss wants to shift TNT/TBS money to HBO.

umfan said:
No, I think you represented something that couldn't be backed up and I noted it is all. Time, and the outcome of the DoJ appeal will determine if this was a wise acquisition by AT&T. I believe it will prove not to be. However, going back to the topic of the OP, if original programming dollars are shifted from TBS/TNT to HBO, this could have an impact on the perceived value of these networks. There are many outlets carrying reruns now. It makes it easy to move these stations to a higher, and less subscribed tier, especially from cable outlets that compete with AT&T. I don't see the NBC channels owned by Comcast as being similarly disposable by AT&T. For one, they get higher ratings than their AT&T owned counterparts and some are covered by 'must carry' rules.
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The point made by BigA, and substantiated by the public financial data, is that the Turner division is more profitable.

Now that the AT&T operating model is to combine the divisions under one management team, there may, naturally be a reassessment of the focus and resources of individual channels. But overall, the Turner group, where more profits historically came from, is not going to be "gutted" to enhance HBO to the point of hurting those revenue streams.
 
Actually, David, I will respectfully disagree with your characterization. TNT/TBS were the subject of the discussion and these were compared to HBO. While HBO is distinctly broken out in Warner's earnings, the individual Turner stations are not. For the assertions that were made to be valid, one would need detailed information not publicly reported.

A recent earnings report is here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/greats...ue-to-drive-time-warners-growth/#c418c751a994

Please, from this, or another source, walk me through how one can discern what TNT/TBS ALONE are making compared to HBO. To assume they're significantly more profitable than HBO, one would have to conclude that TCM, the CNN networks and the other Turner assets aren't very profitable. Since the poster in question has often asserted that CNN is very profitable, he is either wrong on that or wrong here.

If an assertion is going to be made, it really should be accompanied by some sort of analysis, or the point should be conceded. Why you're paraphrasing his position as involving all of the Turner networks, when the topic of the post was specifically TBS and TNT is not clear to me, but it's of no consequence.

Finally, I never stated TNT/TBS, again not the whole Turner group, would be 'gutted' only that moving the funds could disadvantage these stations. If you disagree with that, tell me why.
 
umfan said:
Early indication that AT&T outright lied about their plans for TW. Could prove useful to DoJ in the appeal.
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Where's the lie? Did AT&T promise it would keep everything in the company intact? That would be crazy. AT&T is managing Turner in ways it hadn't been managed before. The example in the OP of this thread, where development money may shift from TBS to HBO, is another example. They never promised that changes wouldn't be made.
 
umfan said:
The article was very clear on where AT&T has not met their promises.
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The article is making a subjective judgement equating the shutting down of an unprofitable division with quality of service.

There were no promises made to retain unprofitable divisions.

It's been five months, and still no word about an appeal.
 
https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/warnermedia-streaming-platform-movies-three-tiers-1203051216/

And Here is AT&T getting into the streaming business to go after Netflix and Hulu

WarnerMedia’s nascent streaming service will launch in beta form by the end of 2019 with three tiers of programming options, including an “entry-level” package focused on movies.

AT&T unveiled plans for the unnamed service on Thursday during a presentation in New York to investors to talk up the company’s prospects and plans for paying down the considerable debt that AT&T piled on with its $84.5 billion acquisition of Time Warner. AT&T chairman-CEO emphasized that the company is laser-focused on chopping down its debt load to no more than 2.5 times earnings by the end of 2019.

AT&T said WarnerMedia’s SVOD service will offer consumers three options to subscribe, starting with “entry-level movie-focused package.” It will also feature “a premium service with original programming and blockbuster movies” and a third option “that bundles content from the first two plus an extensive library of WarnerMedia and licensed content.”
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https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/w...tails-hints-at-ad-supported-streaming-service

Here is another take in the AT&T SVOD talks

John Stankey, CEO at WarnerMedia, said the SVOD platform could attract other content companies looking for different ways to distribute their content.

Despite the direct-to-consumer plans, WarnerMedia said it’s still well positioned with its existing wholesale distribution of content. The company also hinted at a potential advertising-supported video on demand service in the future.

WarnerMedia expects to continue growing its top- and bottom-line and to be accretive to AT&T’s adjusted EPS in 2019.


AT&T also provided some updates about its video services within the entertainment group.

AT&T is eyeing increased profitability in OTT video thanks to recent DirecTV Now price increases, lower content costs and adjustments to promotions. The company is expecting negative net subscriber adds at DirecTV Now in the fourth quarter of 2018 and in 2019.

On the traditional video distribution side, AT&T said it’s anticipating a $1 billion improvement in linear video revenues driven by the remaining 2 million subscribers rolling off two-year price locks and increased ad revenues from Xandr.
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Highly unlikely that a content producer would use this platform for distribution to the benefit of a competitor.
 
AT&T has the judges paid off and on the payroll clearly doesn't know what the law is. Kinda sounds that judges will rule in AT&T's favor which isn't good.
 
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta...g-long-island-office-will-move-some-jobs.html

HBO to have offices in Atlanta.

Atlanta will actually gain some jobs in the wake of AT&T’s $85 billion takeover of Time Warner.

HBO, now part of AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit, said Wednesday closing its broadcast operations facility on New York's Long Island and shifting some of the 200 jobs to Manhattan and Atlanta. Others will be eliminated.

HBO and Atlanta’s Turner Broadcasting are being restructured in the wake of former owner Time Warner being purchased by AT&T.

"With two new state-of-the-art facilities now existing in Hudson Yards and Atlanta, the services out of the Hauppauge Communications Center will become redundant so the plan is to close the center by year's end," HBO said Wednesday in a statement. "We are asking many employees from the Long Island-based departments to transition to Hudson Yards, which has been designed to support post-production needs on original programming as well as our digital distribution platforms. However, the broadcast operations which originated out of Hauppauge will now come out of Atlanta. This will result in the elimination of some positions in New York."
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RadioPatrol said:
HBO to have offices in Atlanta.
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Sounds like the kind of thing that should have happened a while ago. Here's a description of the HCC:

HBO Communication Center was built in 1983 as a distribution center. The HBO Communications Center is protected by redundant power distribution, keeping it in operation for 18 days without outside fuel refills. In addition to an advanced server infrastructure, the HBO facility includes a main master control suite and three control rooms. The MC suite monitors 32 channels internally and is equipped with a full wall of Barco VGA monitors, four Panasonic plasma displays, a New Point Technology alarming system and Barco Vivaldi monitor display hardware. All distribution of on-demand content comes from the HBO Communications Center in Hauppauge, N.Y., from which HBO distributes approximately 150 to 200 hours of content to cable systems across the nation. HBO's digital facility and its systems incorporate highly automated Sun/Hitachi and Profile servers and Open SAN systems that have resulted in the development of electronic workflow architectures. This has increased the efficiency and allowed HBO to put additional safeguards in place to continue its mission-critical distribution.
 
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