Last year, Zaslav acquired the 3,900-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion that was home to the late movie mogul Robert Evans (“The Godfather,” “Chinatown”), telling friends that he wanted to spend more time in Los Angeles.Īnother big winner could be CNN President Jeff Zucker, who also oversees WarnerMedia’s Turner Sports. While it churns out popular nonfiction programming - including “Property Brothers,” “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and “Naked and Afraid” - it lacks a large portfolio of premium scripted shows.ĭiscovery Chief Executive David Zaslav is expected to run the combined venture. The New York cable programmer, which is worth $16.8 billion, has long recognized that it needed more scale to effectively compete in the streaming world. The proposed deal with Discovery comes just three months after AT&T spun off another troubled asset, El Segundo-based DirecTV.įor Discovery, the deal would represent a major win. Kong” and “Wonder Woman,” and such TV shows as “Game of Thrones,” “The Voice” and “The Bachelor.”ĪT&T found itself stretched financially as it simultaneously tried to build a nationwide 5G telephone network while ramping up spending for its year-old streaming service, HBO Max. The proposed new venture would unite one of the world’s biggest producers of unscripted programming, Discovery, with WarnerMedia, a preeminent producer of movies, including “Godzilla vs. Legacy media companies laid off thousands of workers last year during the COVID-19 pandemic as they’ve witnessed an exodus of once loyal viewers to Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+. The deal would reshape Hollywood, which has already witnessed dramatic contraction after Walt Disney Co.’s $71-billion acquisition of much of Rupert Murdoch’s entertainment empire in 2019. Bloomberg News first reported that AT&T and Discovery were in advanced talks to merge their entertainment properties. The companies are expected to announce their proposed joint venture as early as Monday, these people said. Now, the company is retreating from those plans.ĭaunted by the challenges of competing in the streaming age and shackled by a mountain of debt, the Dallas telecommunications behemoth is poised to spin off its entertainment assets into a new venture with cable programming company Discovery, which owns HGTV, the Food Network and Animal Planet, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment. film and TV studio and Turner channels including cable news juggernaut CNN. marched into Hollywood with big ambitions to be a 21st century media colossus, connecting its booming cellphone business with legendary media properties - HBO, the Warner Bros.
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