David Zaslav attends the world premiere of “The Flash”, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 12, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Mike Blake | Reuters
Earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav ended his company’s long relationship with the National Basketball Association. Now, he may be setting the stage to end his relationship with U.S. sports, altogether.
WBD announced Monday it’s splitting itself into two companies — a concept CNBC first reported had picked up steam in April. One company, temporarily called Streaming and Studios, will consist of Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO and HBO Max. The other, currently dubbed Global Networks, will be the rest of the company’s assets: legacy cable networks, TNT Sports, digital products and free-to-air channels in Europe.
Zaslav will be the CEO of Streaming and Studios. Gunnar Wiedenfels, the current Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Financial Officer, will become the CEO of Global Networks.
The divorce raises the question of where live sports right held by TNT will land without Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming portfolio as part of the same company.
During a conference call Monday, Zaslav said it will be up to Wiedenfels and his team to decide where they’d like to license TNT Sports programming to the Streaming and Studios business — or anyone else —in the future.
Currently, all of TNT Sports appear on HBO Max, Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streaming service. Zaslav said U.S. sports haven’t been a major driver of HBO Max signups, suggesting that it may make sense for TNT Sports to consciously uncouple with the streaming service down the road.
“Inside the U.S., sports have been less critical,” Zaslav said on a call with investors Monday. “It’s viewed, but it hasn’t been a real driver for us. So it will continue to be on HBO Max, but the Global Networks business will evaluate over time where the best place for that is.”
HBO Max will continue to license sports for existing deals. Still, Wiedenfels will have options on how to monetize TNT’s future streaming and digital sports rights. He could strike a licensing deal with a different media company for the live sports that appear on the Turner networks (TNT, TBS and TruTV), such as the NCAA’s March Madness, the French Open, NASCAR, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League.
“The U.S. sports rights will reside at the Global Networks, and its management team will determine how best to monetize the streaming and digital rights over time,” said Wiedenfels. “Internationally, sports will largely coexist, both on linear and streaming, as they do today.”
Or, he could decide to merge TNT Sports with another entity, such as the forthcoming Comcast spinout, Versant. Mark Lazarus, Versant’s CEO, told CNBC Sport last month he was interested in bidding on sports rights to gain distribution heft with pay-TV operators. Acquiring TNT Sports could be a major step in that direction.
If Wiedenfels opts for consolidation, he will have to weigh the tax effects of selling off assets after the separation takes place. While Warner Bros. Discovery noted the split is tax-free, Wiedenfels emphasized on Monday’s call that transactions could begin as soon as the separation occurs, which is expected by mid-2026.
“On the tax side, I said this earlier, I want to be absolutely clear: Once this deal closes, both companies are going to be free and clear,” Wiedenfels said. “There is no minimum time.”
A spokesperson for Versant did not immediately return request for comment.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of CNBC. Versant will become the parent company of CNBC when the spinout is complete.