Yet more media consolidation could result in CBS and the Turner Sports networks becoming corporate siblings.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with his Paramount Global counterpart Bob Bakish on Tuesday to discuss a potential merger of the companies, Axios reported Wednesday. Such a move would, among other things, put CBS Sports and the Turner Sports networks under the same umbrella for the first time. Though it is sometimes assumed that CBS and Turner are corporate siblings due to their existing relationship on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament — and a prior partnership on the Winter Olympics — they have always been separate entities.
In addition to the sports implications, a combination of the two companies would result in CBS News and CNN being under the same umbrella, to say nothing of entertainment properties MTV, TBS, TNT, Comedy Central. It would also presumably result in the combination of streaming services Max and Paramount+.
A merger would be just the latest transformation for the Warner side of the Warner Bros. Discovery conglomerate. It was just five years ago that the company then known as Time Warner was purchased by AT&T. The renamed WarnerMedia was then spun off and combined with Discovery in 2021 to form what is now known as WBD.
Prior to the recent spate of mergers, Time Warner was being targeted for acquisition by 21st Century Fox — just a few years before that company would sell off most of its assets in a deal with Disney. The company, which purchased the Turner networks in 1995, has been in a state of extended flux since its ill-fated 2000 acquisition by America Online fell apart in 2009.
Paramount, formerly known as ViacomCBS, has also experienced its fair share of instability. Viacom and CBS initially merged in 1999, but went their separate ways in 2006 and existed as largely independent companies — albeit both controlled by the Redstone family — until re-merging in 2019. Per the Axios report, Paramount is in severe debt and “under enormous pressure” to find an investor or buyer.
(News from Axios 12.20)
