**
Warner Brothers Discovery held its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday to go over its performance which saw the conglomerate report a loss of $3.42 billion over the quarter. The results were not met favorably with the stock falling under $15 on Friday and down 16 percent since the opening bell today.
During its earning call, CEO David Zaslav confirmed reports that its streaming services – HBO Max and Discovery+ – will be merged into one platform next summer with a belief that its streaming business will break even in 2024. They are also looking at a free ad-supported streaming option.
In the wake of the merger, the company has outlined its strategy to cut $3 billion in costs over the next two years. Major moves have included the shelving of CNN+ just after it launched and the announcement of the nearly completed “Batgirl” and a Scooby Doo film will not be released.
This is a major story to follow with the fate of AEW’s programming, which is up for renegotiations with the expiration of their deal at the end of 2024. For AEW’s sake, having the most bidders for their programming is optimal and will drive up their rights, which currently sit at an average annual value of $44 million. WBD has a lot invested with live sports through the NBA and Major League Baseball and outside of the NBA playoffs, AEW has frequently been the top show on cable on Wednesdays this year. Unlike other professional sports, AEW currently costs them a fraction of other major sports rights and runs 52 weeks per year providing three hours per week of programming, quarterly specials on TNT, and the ability to add more programming is on the table through Ring of Honor and other non-scripted programming.
**John Ourand of Sports Business Journal spoke with CNBC reporter Alex Sherman on
the state of Warner Brothers Discovery and their thoughts coming out of Thursday’s earnings report.
**Noah Kinsey and Indie Wire reporter Tony Maglio were on
The Coffee Time podcast discussing the WBD earnings report and the potential impact on AEW.
From Maglio:
It’s not that I hope AEW doesn’t get re-upped. I hope they get re-upped; I really do. But right now, it feels like the absolute worst time to be seeking a major contract renewal from Warner Brothers Discovery – and it seems like being on lineal Turner channels is absolutely the worst position to be in to trying to command some major contract – again, not like WWE level money, not NBA money, not baseball but a significant amount of live sports money. It just doesn’t feel like the right time, it feels like the right time for both parties to move on, which is unfortunate because I want to reiterate that AEW is successful on Wednesdays, it really truly is, now the ratings are slipping, all that stuff. But it is a successful property especially for Turner as a successful cable TV show, the Friday show not so much.
I would not be feeling very comfortable in my position right now if I were Tony Khan or a huge AEW fan that wishes it would stay on that platform. Again, do I think AEW will find another TV home, if it’s not Turner? Yes, I do. I think they have proven themselves as a brand and as a quality alternative to WWE but man, every time I check in it really truly feels like it isn’t even on their radar. There are such bigger fish to fry and if you didn’t think Zaslav was not interested in scripted programming you can just imagine how disinterested he is in scripted/unscripted programming.
Better start shopping the product around.....This Warner merger could fuck em.
