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☆ Paris Olympics ratings soar 82% over Tokyo Games, delivering big boost to NBC’s Peacock streamer
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-13 | by ( Liam Reilly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris drew a combined average of 30.6 million viewers across NBCU’s constellation of platforms, marking an 82% jump in viewership compared to the Tokyo Games and making the Games the most-streamed Olympics of all time. The network’s Spanish-language broadcast on Telemundo also saw a 26% jump over the same period during the Tokyo Games three years ago. “The Olympics reestablished its unique power to reassemble the American media audience,” said Gary Zenkel, the NBC Olympics president. “NBC Nightly News” anchored by Lester Holt averaged 7.6 million viewers during the two-week period, and the “Today” show averaged 3.1 million viewers, the network said. Last month, Comcast reported the streamer had lost 500,000 subscribers in the second quarter, falling to 33 million total, well below Netflix’s 277 million subscribers and Disney’s 153.6 million.

Persons: ”, Peacock, Gary Zenkel, “, NBCU, Al Michael’s, NBCUniversal, Mark Lazarus, Lester Holt Organizations: New, New York CNN, Comcast, Tokyo Games, Telemundo, Olympics, NBC, America, USA, US, France, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paris Games, Tokyo, Games, Warner Bros, NBA, Paris Olympics, NBCUniversal Media, “ Parks, Studios Locations: New York, Paris, “ Paris

☆ Charles Barkley cancels his retirement plans, says he’ll stay with TNT Sports for long term
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-06 | by ( Liam Reilly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Charles Barkley isn’t ready to retire just yet. TNT Sports and the NBA hall of famer announced Tuesday that they had reaffirmed a long-term commitment as the network’s parent company, Warner Bros. My heart is full with joy and gratitude.”But in a statement Tuesday, Barkley walked back his retirement plans, saying he would continue working with TNT Sports for the remainder of his 10-year contract. WBD is the parent company of TNT and CNN. While WBD takes the NBA to court over its broadcast rights, the company has been working to strengthen its live sports portfolio.

Persons: Charles Barkley isn’t, Barkley, ”, ” Barkley, “, I’ve, “ I’m, ” Luis Silberwasser, Charles ’, Roland, Charles, Barkley —, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal —, WBD, NBCUniversal Organizations: New, New York CNN, TNT Sports, NBA, famer, Warner Bros, TNT, College Football, Garros, NASCAR, BIG EAST, Mountain, CNN, Disney, French, ESPN, Football Locations: New York, Mountain West

☆ WBD sues NBA over league’s rejection of broadcast matching rights
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-26 | by ( Liam Reilly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Discovery has filed a lawsuit against the NBA after the league rejected its matching offer to broadcast the league’s games for the next decade, ending the media company’s four-decade relationship with the NBA. “Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” a WBD spokesperson said in a statement. But the league said WBD “did not match the terms” of its deal with Amazon. While WBD maintains the rights to the NCAA March Madness tournament, along with the MLB, NHL and NASCAR, the NBA remains crucial to the media conglomerate. The cable channel TNT has built a programming slate around the NBA games, most notably the highly rated “Inside the NBA” show featuring Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.

Persons: “, Max, ” Mike Bass, ” Adam Silver, WBD “, Warner, WBD, Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, ”, I’m, ” Barkley Organizations: New, New York CNN, Warner Bros, Discovery, NBA, Amazon, Disney, TNT, Amazon Prime, ABC, ESPN, CNN, Netflix, NCAA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR Locations: New York, New York County, United States, WBD

☆ ‘It just sucks’: Charles Barkley lashes out at NBA choosing Amazon over TNT
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-26 | by ( Liam Reilly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance.”“TNT matched the money, but the league knows Amazon and these tech companies are the only ones willing to pay for the rights when they double in the future,” Barkley added. It just sucks.”The comments came after the NBA on Wednesday rejected an offer from Warner Bros. Discovery to match Amazon’s $1.8 billion per year bid to carry the league’s games starting with the 2025-26 season. The decision set up a potential legal showdown between the NBA and WBD, the parent company of TNT and CNN, which maintains it has matching rights to any broadcast offer. “These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.”

Persons: Charles Barkley, Barkley, “, I’m, ”, ” Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, WBD, Max, ” Adam Silver Organizations: New, New York CNN, NBA, TNT, Wednesday, Warner Bros, WBD, CNN, TNT Sports ’, Amazon, Disney Locations: New York, United States

☆ NBA and TNT’s parent company prepare for legal clash in sports rights battle for the ages
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-25 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —The stage is now officially set for a high-stakes showdown between the NBA and TNT parent company Warner Bros. WBD, the parent company of CNN, paid for matching rights when it struck its current deal with the NBA. In doing so, the NBA argued that WBD’s offer was not a legally valid match since it would also be broadcasting the games on TNT. And it should be noted that the contractual paperwork giving WBD matching rights is pages long and not simple. Zaslav and his deputies believe that they have a robust legal argument and that they are indeed entitled to use their contractual rights to match Amazon’s bid.

Persons: WBD’s, David Zaslav, Adam Silver, Warner, WBD, ”, that’s, “, NBCU, Zaslav, Stephen A, Smith Organizations: New, New York CNN, NBA, TNT, Warner Bros ., Wednesday, Amazon, Warner Bros, CNN, CNBC, NBCUniversal, Disney, ESPN, Big Tech, Apple, Google Locations: New York

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery notifies NBA it will match Amazon’s $1.8 billion offer to carry league games
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-22 | by ( Liam Reilly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

A person familiar with the matter confirmed WBD’s matching offer Monday was for Amazon’s bid, which includes regular season and playoff games. It’s unclear if the NBA will accept or reject WBD’s offer, which the league intended for a streaming partner. The showdown over the NBA rights comes as legacy media companies struggle to retain audiences, with viewers opting to leave cable bundles behind in favor of cheaper, on-demand content. The cable channel TNT has built a programming slate around the NBA games, most notably the highly rated “Inside the NBA” show featuring Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. Asked last week about the fate of WBD’s broadcast rights, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told reporters, “I don’t know yet.”“Much of it is outside my control,” he added.

Persons: ’ signoff, WBD, “ We’ve, ”, Turner Sports ’, Charles Barkley, ” Barkley, “, I’m, Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, Adam Silver Organizations: New, New York CNN, Warner Bros, Discovery, TNT Sports, NBA, Disney, NBC, Amazon Prime, NBA’s, Governors, TNT, Amazon, Turner Sports, ESPN, Football, Netflix, NCAA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR Locations: New York

☆ TNT’s NBA future is up in the air. But it now has tennis
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Although the future of the NBA on TNT remains uncertain, the cable network will at least have tennis. Under the “new expansive deal,” all roughly 900 matches will air live on the streaming platform Max, with featured matches on TNT and TBS and a new whip-around show on truTV. WBD already has an existing relationship with Roland-Garros since it began broadcasting the tennis tournament across Europe on Eurosport since 1989. The Tennis Channel stepped in to air more matches in 2006, splitting the rights with NBC. Tennis has seen its popularity and ratings grow in the past few years, which could help WBD’s sport portfolio.

Persons: “ Roland, Garros, ”, Luis Silberwasser, WBD, Roland Organizations: New, New York CNN, NBA, TNT, Warner Bros, French, TBS, Variety, TNT Sports, CNN, Eurosport, Roland, Garros, NBC, Tennis, NHL, MLB, Amazon, Wall Street, ESPN Locations: New York, Europe, Paris

☆ ‘It sucks for all of us.’ Charles Barkley says the quiet part aloud as TNT’s NBA future in doubt
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The situation at Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT network “sucks, plain and simple,” Charles Barkley bluntly said Thursday. Barkley, who said he feels “so bad for the people” he works with, laid blame at the feet of the “clowns” atop WBD. Wall Street has responded quite negatively to the possibility WBD, which has built a programming slate around the NBA, could lose the rights to air the games. And TNT has built a programming slate around the NBA games, most notably the highly rated “Inside the NBA” show. Losing the rights to NBA games could throw aspects of that business partnership into question.

Persons: ” Charles Barkley, NBA ”, Dan Patrick, ”, Barkley, ” Barkley, David Zaslav’s, Adam Silver, Turner, Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw, WBD, “, Shaw, ” Shaw, Joe Flint, Amol Sharma, Isabella Simonetti, Zaslav, Venu, That’s, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Wiedenfels, ” Wiedenfels, there’s, you’ve Organizations: CNN, Warner Bros, TNT, NBA, Turner, Comcast, WSJ, WBD, NCAA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, College Football, ESPN —, Disney, Fox Corp, Morgan’s Technology, Media & Communications Locations: WBD

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock plummets to new low amid concerns the media giant could lose its NBA rights
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Discovery doesn’t “have to have the NBA.” It appears Wall Street disagrees. TNT has built a programming slate around the NBA games, most notably the highly rated ”Inside the NBA” show. Losing the rights to NBA games could throw aspects of that business partnership into question. Since WBD first began trading on Wall Street in April 2022, the stock has lost roughly 70% of its value. And for Zaslav, whose company is struggling on Wall Street, the battle could not come at a more inopportune time.

Persons: New York CNN — David Zaslav, “, WBD, —, Joe Flint, Amol Sharma, Isabella Simonetti —, Charles Barkley, Andrew Marchand, Warner, That’s, NBCU’s, I’m, Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Wiedenfels ’, Bob Iger, David Ellison’s, ” Organizations: New York CNN, Warner Bros, NBA, CNN, Industry, WBD, TNT, The Athletic, New York Post, NCAA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Disney, Fox Corporation, Netflix, Paramount Global, Wall Locations: New York

☆ Warner Bros Discovery boss’s payday is toast
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) chief executive will have to more than double the value of the media company if he wants to collect a lavish $200 million compensation package awarded when Discovery agreed to merge with Warner Media in 2021. The news sent shares plunging 19%, the largest one-day drop since Discovery merged with Warner Media. Its current value is over $18 billion when applying Bernstein’s multiple of 8 times EBITDA. At the end of September, the company had net leverage – after deducting $2.4 billion cash – of 4.2 times EBITDA. Shares of Warner Bros Discovery fell 19% on that day.

Persons: David Zaslav, He’s, Harry Potter, Jefferies, Max, “ Barbie ”, Zaslav, David, Peter Thal Larsen, Sharon Lam Organizations: Reuters, Warner Bros Discovery, Discovery, Warner Media, HBO, CNN, Food Network, TBS, LSEG, Netflix, Reuters Graphics Reuters, HGTV, Thomson Locations: EBITDA

☆ ‘Barbie’ brought in $1.5 billion for Warner Bros. Discovery, but the company still lost money last quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Blockbuster hit “Barbie” brought in a record $1.5 billion for Warner Bros. Discovery, but the company still reported a $417 million loss for the quarter that was bigger than Wall Street’s forecasts. The company, however, reported a narrow profit when taking into account adjustments for certain items, including interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, needed the revenue boost from “Barbie” to achieve a narrow 2% increase in sales. The company reported that adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 22% to just under $3 billion.

Persons: Barbie ”, Gunnar Wiedenfels, David Zaslav, ”, “, “ Barbie, WBD, EBITDA Organizations: New, New York CNN, Blockbuster, Warner Bros, CNN, Writers Guild of America, SAG, Netflix, Apple Locations: New York

☆ Live sports is coming to Max streaming service in time for the MLB playoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Liam Reilly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Live sports is coming to Max. Discovery announced Tuesday it will launch a live sports tier on its Max streaming service on October 5 that will give subscribers access to more than 300 live games a year. The “Bleacher Report Sports Add-On” will include a package of live sports, including MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA Men’s March Madness, and US Soccer events, WBD said. The addition of live sports arrives in time for the Major League Baseball playoffs, with the National League Division Series kicking off on October 7. WBD announced last month that it also plans to bring live news to the Max platform with a new CNN Max service starting on September 27.

Persons: Warner, WBD, CNN Max, ” JB Perrette, Max, ”, Luis Silberwasser Organizations: CNN —, Max, Warner Bros . Discovery, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA, Soccer, Major League Baseball, National League Division, Sports, TNT, TBS, CNN, Entertainment, Time Warner, Warner Bros, Discovery Sports

☆ It’s Netflix’s world, rivals just stream in it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

Cheaper streaming options with unique programming were luring viewers, leaving Netflix in a tough spot as it raised prices. Paramount+, started in 2021, is joining forces with sister Showtime to widen its offerings. Disney, Paramount and WBD also operate cable and broadcast networks, and don’t specify what portion of the expense is allocated to streaming. Its subscribers, worth $136 a year in revenue apiece, are also more valuable than those of its rivals. Warner Bros Discovery on May 23 rebranded its streaming service as Max, which will include HBO programming along with Discovery’s reality TV shows.

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery reengineers the traditional TV bundle for the streaming era
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

In effect, WBD announced that it is recreating the bundle, erecting the pillars of a one-stop shop for scripted and unscripted television, movies, news and sports at a flat monthly rate. Insider Intelligence analyst Paul Verna noted to me that the WBD competitor has “resisted the temptation” to combine Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Instead, Verna observed that Disney is “leaning into each brand’s core strength,” though Disney does offer the ability to purchase the individual services in a bundle. But it goes without saying that Max — the product of the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery — represents the future for WBD, which has been entrenched in the declining traditional TV business. The Max service launches May 23.

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