Warner Bros. Discovery

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Former WarnerMedia logo

Former Time Warner logo

Warner Bros. Discovery, Nasdaq: WBD, (formerly Time Warner Inc., AOL Time Warner and WarnerMedia; doing business as WarnerMedia) is an American corporation headquartered in New York City. Today, Warner Bros. Discovery is the third largest conglomerate in terms of revenue behind Comcast and Disney respectively. Warner Bros. Discovery was owned by AT&T until 2022. Warner Bros. Discovery is the current copyright and distribution rights owner of all Looney Tunes-related media.

On 8 April 2022, WarnerMedia merged with Discovery Inc. and formed Warner Bros. Discovery.^[1]

Subsidiaries/Divisions[]

Warner Bros.[]

Main article: Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.' businesses range from feature film and TV to home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to home video, digital distribution, animation, comic books, licensing and international cinemas and broadcasting. In 2012, the Warner Bros. Pictures Group grossed 4.3 billion dollars at the worldwide box office.^[2] Home Video is the industry leader with a 21% market share in total DVD and Blu-ray sales.

The Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group works across platforms and outlets in the digital realm with video-on-demand, branded channels, original content, anti-piracy technology and broadband & wireless destinations. Each year Warner Bros. Pictures produces between 18 and 22 films. Warner Bros. has produced more than 50 television series in the 2012–2013 television season. Warner Bros. has also incorporated DC Comics content into Warner Bros. Entertainment via the creation of the DC Entertainment division, which was founded in 2009. DC Entertainment, which is wholly owned by the Company, is responsible for bringing the stories and characters from the DC Comics, Vertigo and MAD Magazine publishing portfolios into other Warner Bros. content and distribution businesses, including feature films, television programming, video games, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics imprint, home to such iconic characters as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Green Lantern, has launched digital versions of its top comic book and graphic novel titles, making them available for download on digital platforms.

On 4 March 2019, WarnerMedia announced a new Global Kids & Young Adults unit for Cartoon Network, Adult Swim (Cartoon Network's night block), Boomerang (all three from the former Turner Broadcasting System) plus received oversight of Turner Classic Movies and Other Media, all of which will be under the Warner Bros. brand in the future.

WarnerMedia Entertainment[]

The division is responsible for HBO and the entertainment operations of the the former Home Box Office Inc. and Turner Broadcasting System, including HBO, TBS, TNT and TruTV. The division also contains WarnerMedia's direct-to-consumer operations, including the streaming service HBO Max. Bob Greenblatt heads the division as chairman.^[3]

WarnerMedia News & Sports[]

The division is responsible for CNN, Turner Sports, Bleacher Report, and AT&T Regional Sports Networks.^[3]

Former Subsidiaries[]

In 1996, the company acquired Turner Broadcasting System, which owned CNN, TNT, TBS, Turner Classic Movies, Turner Sports, the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film library, the pre-1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library, and more. On 4 March 2019, the company announced Turner's former assets will be distributed across WarnerMedia's new subsidiaries as part of a corporate restructuring and Turner Broadcasting would cease to exist as an operating subsidiary. At the same time, subsidiary Home Box Office Inc. (HBO) was announced to be dissolved as a separate subsidiary as its operations became part of the WarnerMedia Entertainment unit with most of the other entertainment-oriented cable channels.

The company used to also have extensive telecommunications assets through Time Warner Cable, but in 2009 it was spun-off into an independent company, which later merged with Charter Communications in 2016. Time Inc. was spun back off in 2014 and was acquired by the Meredith Corporation in 2018.

AT&T Purchase[]

In 2016, AT&T proposed to purchase Time Warner and its assets for $85 billion as well as assuming the company's debt.^[4]^[5]^[6] AT&T received approval from the United States Federal government to purchase Time Warner on 12 June 2018 and purchased them on 14 June 2018. As such, the company was renamed WarnerMedia.

Merger with Discovery Inc.[]

In 2022, AT&T sold WarnerMedia to Discovery Inc. The two companies merged as Warner Bros. Discovery.

Streaming Video On Demand App (SVOD)[]

With the acquisition of Time Warner, AT&T is planning to launch "AT&T Watch TV", an SVOD that hosts Warner Bros. and Turner Entertainment content to stream. Users who have unlimited cellular data internet plans from AT&T will get the SVOD for free, while everyone else who wants it will have to pay $15 monthly. The SVOD service is available to anyone, even users who are not customers with AT&T. It is unknown when it will launch.^[7]^[8]