AT&T Chief John Stankey Bids Farewell to WarnerMedia Staff as Discovery Deal Closes

The new Warner Bros. Discovery leadership is starting to unify its policies across the two parts of the company. I hear that Adria Alpert Romm, chief people and culture officer, sent an email this morning to WarnerMedia employees about the implementation of a new hybrid work schedule.

“You’re seeing the newest CEO in the business, after having studied the market for a year, describe the business model perfectly as far as we’re concerned,” Fithian told reporters at a Tuesday press conference. “If you get a movie that works well theatrically and pops, it has a window, it also means it helps that movie do better when it hits the home on streaming.”Last year, Warner Bros. was one of the studios leading experiments with day-and-date releasing, putting all 2021 films on HBO Max and in theaters simultaneously as a way to handle the uncertainty of theaters reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaThe movie theater industry’s top lobbyist said that the persistent experimentation that saw studios release movies in cinemas at the same time they landed on streaming or on video-on-demand is over. “I am pleased to announce that simultaneous release is dead as a serious business model, and piracy is what killed it,” John Fithian, head of the National Association of Theatre Owners, told a packed auditorium of exhibitors on Tuesday at CinemaCon. Fithian didn’t claim that release windows, industry parlance for the length of time that movies are available exclusively in theaters, is going to get longer.

Theatrical windows are back as the pandemic wanes, and National Association of Theatre Owners President and CEO John Fithian was unabashed to underscore that.

the Q1 earnings were released. “As you’ve heard me say, we are not trying to win the direct-to-consumer spending war,” the WBD chief said, instead promising that the newly combined WarnerMedia-Discovery company would “invest in scale smartly.”He already made the first difficult choice within the first week after Discovery closed its $43 billion acquisitor of the larger WarnerMedia: Zaslav, notorious in the industry for being a no-nonsense cost-cutter, decided to close down the much-hyped CNN+.

millions of paying customers may cancel in the months ahead.In the first earnings report since Discovery’s $43 billion acquisition of the iconic Warner Bros. studios, the entertainment giant reported the former Discover business reported that profit increased to $456 million, compared with $140 million, in the year-ago period , while revenue jumped 13% to nearly $3.2 billion.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaA consortium of investors led by Najafi Companies has closed its deal to purchase STX Entertainment, the beleaguered film and television company behind “Bad Moms” and “My Spy.” The sale ends STX’s unhappy union with Eros, the Indian media company that it merged with in 2020. The goal was to go public, which STXEros did, but to little investor fanfare. STX had previously tried and abandoned an effort to go public on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2018, citing unfavorable market conditions.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaAaron Stanford, Scotty Tovar, Tim Daly, Lolita Davidovich and Clayne Crawford have joined the cast of “Finestkind.”As previously announced, the crime thriller also stars Oscar-winner Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Foster, Toby Wallace and Jenna Ortega. It is written and directed by Brian Helgeland, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of “L.A.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav brought out the big guns during his address to the new company at its first global town hall for employees Thursday.The newly merged company brought out its most famous employee, Oprah Winfrey, to moderate the event and to help introduce Zaslav to Hollywood.Winfrey is a longtime supporter of the media mogul, who has championed the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) — a cable channel jointly jointed by Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Studio — alongside her since its launch in 2011.

David Zaslav hasn’t wasted time in making significant changes at WarnerBros Discovery and many on this side of the Atlantic are now wondering what happens in the international ranks, where the combined studios have thousands of staff.

closed on Friday.Zaslav’s travel agenda will take him to WarnerMedia’s global headquarters in New York on Monday, Warner Bros. offices in Atlanta on Tuesday, WarnerMedia/HBO offices in Culver City on Wednesday, and concluding with a town hall at WarnerMedia offices on the iconic Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank, according to the individual.

In one of the most head-scratching reporting changes under the new Warner Bros. Discovery leadership, Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network has moved from the Discovery to the Warner Bros. side of the company under HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys. Upon closer examination, the move, which could lead to a Magnolia-branded hub on HBO Max and the Gaines’ dipping their toe in scripted programming, is not that shocking. It just took the couple two mergers and three relationships to get there.

Discovery and WarnerMedia have closed their $43 billion merger, creating a top-scale media player and streaming contender and ending an ill-fated foray into entertainment by AT&T.

according to CNN.Discovery stakeholders had approved the deal in mid-March.The merger will place AT&T’s Warner Bros., CNN, Turner and Discovery’s stable of nonfiction networks squarely under one roof — as well as two currently competing streaming services, Discovery+ and HBO Max, possibly giving the combined entity a fighting chance of moving into competition with Netflix and Disney+ among the leading streaming services.The deal also combines WarnerMedia’s U.S. sports rights like the NBA, MLB and March Madness with Discovery international sports giant Eurosport.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery completed its $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T on Friday to form new company Warner Bros. Discovery.WarnerMedia owns HBO, HBO Max, CNN, Warner Bros., DC Films, New Line Cinema, TBS, TNT, TruTV, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Turner Sports and Rooster Teeth, among other brands, and is part owner of the CW Network along with Paramount.Discovery is the parent of Discovery Plus, Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, Turbo/Velocity, Animal Planet, Science Channel and OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).Here is the new leadership structure for Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWarner Bros. Discovery is not going with the “initial wordmark” revealed last June as its official logo.Variety has obtained a low-res copy of a new logo that is being circulated on internal memos at Discovery and WarnerMedia Friday, ahead of the expected close of the merger transaction later today.Discovery did not immediately respond to request for comment on the Warner Bros.

stepped down this week], and the entire WarnerMedia leadership, for leading this remarkable evolution through some of the most unprecedented times …. I am delighted to observe the progress and success you have enjoyed, and I am confident you will transition to this next chapter with even more opportunity. I offer my heartfelt thanks.”AT&T battled stiff regulatory resistance to acquire Time Warner in 2018, only to spin it off in a $43 billion deal with Discovery, whose shareholders approved the merger last month.

The hello tour for the Discovery and WarnerMedia merger is set to begin as early as Monday, Deadline hears, with multiple meet and greets planned across the country that will culminate with a town hall later in the week.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterChip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network will move under HBO’s purview upon the completion of Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia, which will result in the launch of Warner Bros. Discovery Monday, Variety has learned exclusively.Allison Page, president of Magnolia, which is a joint venture between the Gaineses and Discovery, Inc., will report directly to HBO and HBO Max chief Casey Bloys.

EXCLUSIVE, UPDATED WITH MORE DETAILS: Less than 24 hours after CEO Jason Kilar, HBO Max boss Andy Forssell and Studio chief Ann Sarnoff were pink slipped from the about to disappear WarnerMedia, more executives were shown the door today.