• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

WBD Split Announced

The Hollywood Reporter has a story this morning on how the WBD split saddles the new company with debt, which the Versant deal does not.

Key pull-quote:

Wiedenfels’ global networks company will hold a “majority” of WBD’s more than $30 billion in debt, utilizing its cash-flow-rich but slowly melting assets to service that debt. Versant, by contrast, is expected to have minimal debt, so that it can be an opportunistic acquirer (Versant CEO Mark Lazarus has told fellow media execs that he wants his company to be aggressive and expects to be a buyer rather than a seller).
Click to expand...

www.hollywoodreporter.com

RichCo vs. PoorCo: Not All Spinoffs Are Created Equal

NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery are racing to offload their ailing linear TV channels. But just one of the new SpinCos is unburdened by billions in debt.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
 
oldvnewschool said:
If CNN is broadcasting a play live instead of covering news regardless of ratings, that is a huge concern for me as it shows they're doing everything they can for the almighty nielsen ratings no.
Click to expand...

I want to apologize in advance if this post is too political but as a Veteran I can't help myself.

The play was about the courage it took to stand up for first amendment.* I believe it was aimed at Trump. Sunday night is not usually a "prime" period for news unless something is breaking.

IMHO they did a sub par job promoting it on their other channels.

* We will see if the First Amendment matters any more because the President has vowed to stop protesters from his multi million dollar waste, ego trip, or parade this weekend. Imagine a draft dodger who took multiple deferments until till he could be 4F* wanting soldiers to salute him. Maybe Elon's Hitler salute was correct. But at least Hitler served in WW1.

* If he really had bad feet he should have taken the physical when first called and be done with the draft. I believe his Doctor would have told him that he was 4F.
 
oldvnewschool said:
If CNN is broadcasting a play live instead of covering news regardless of ratings, that is a huge concern for me as it shows they're doing everything they can for the almighty nielsen ratings no.
Click to expand...

If you have a problem with weekend non-news programming on CNN, you're at least 12 years too late:


And as secondchoice says above...the play was an historical piece about TV news in America, revolving around a man whose name is synonymous with broadcast journalism (there's a reason they're the Murrow Awards), in a moment with parallels to today's tension between the government and the First Amendment.
 
Here are some observations about what CNN might be like after the split:

barrettmedia.com

What Does the Future of CNN Look Like With Warner Bros. Discovery Preparing Spin Off?

Everyone likes to talk about what CNN used to be. I think it's time to talk about what CNN can be in the future.
barrettmedia.com barrettmedia.com

The key, according to this, will be for these channels to develop a larger platform beyond cable. In other words, taking successful and well-known brands, and making their content available in more places than strictly cable TV. A lot of that work has already been done.
 
tall_guy1 said:
I don't get why they don't just shut down the declining properties instead of spinning them off.
Click to expand...
If you have a business that generates positive cash and you want to "just shut it down" PM me I will take off you hands!


I had a Great Aunt whose favorite saying was:

Cash Talks Bull Sh*t walks.

If something is generating more cash than it costs to run it use to be called profit before Wall Street became a Casino based on a bigger fool will buy your stock. That really is a good thing as long as you are not the last fool holding the stock. Speculative stock prices don't play the bills unless you sell some stock which dilutes the value of the existing stock holders holdings. Stock prices sometimes do not reflect reality. Remember the Tech meltdown. A lot of the companies had great stock price but crummy cash flow.
 
And now we know company names and top execs:

"Warner Bros. will include the Warners film and TV studios, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max, and the TCM cable channel;

Discovery will include the former Discovery and Turner linear channels, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, Discovery, Food Network, and HGTV. It will also include the company’s international TV channels, and the Discovery+ streaming service."
Click to expand...

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Post-Split Companies Will Be Warner Bros. and Discovery

The post-split companies also set their senior leadership teams.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
 
The decision for stockholders will be if they want to stay with either or both of the companies.

A lot of AT&T stockholders became accidental WBD stockholders. They've watched their shares in AT&T go up, and WBD go down. Now what?
 
Don CT said:
Zaslav kills everything he touches. Why not show him the door.
Click to expand...
I mean, he just essentially used a bunch of declining linear assets (Discovery) to get control of a big 5 studio and a profitable streaming platform in a shade over three years and then move the declining assets off his new company's books, so he's looking pretty good today, if you bet right.

Now, if he screws new Warner Bros. up, that'll be different.
 
michael hagerty said:
I mean, he just essentially used a bunch of declining linear assets (Discovery) to get control of a big 5 studio and a profitable streaming platform in a shade over three years and then move the declining assets off his new company's books, so he's looking pretty good today, if you bet right.

Now, if he screws new Warner Bros. up, that'll be different.
Click to expand...
He screwed it up the first time. Why will this be any different.
 


Back
Top Bottom