Warner Bros. Discovery is attributing a disastrous Q2 earnings report in part to its NBA rights situation. Plus: Disney’s Bob Iger says the company is still in talks on a strategic partner for ESPN; a trio of senators are pushing for DOJ scrutiny of the new Venu streaming service; and more.
Warner Bros. Discovery attributes steep Q2 losses in part to loss of NBA rights
Warner Bros. Discovery posted a net loss of nearly $10 billion during the second quarter, primarily due to a $9.1 billion write-down of the value of its linear television assets, according to the quarterly earnings report it released Wednesday. (The $9.1 billion is the difference between the value of those assets on WBD’s balance sheet and their market value.)
The company attributed the massive write-down in part to what it called “uncertainty” regarding its NBA media rights, which the company lost in the latest round of negotiations (pending a last-ditch effort in the courts). WBD’s stock price fell as low as $6.73 per share early Thursday morning.
Disney’s Iger says company is still seeking strategic partner for ESPN
Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the company’s earnings call on Wednesday that it is still “having conversations” in the search for a strategic partner for ESPN. Reports last year had ESPN and the NFL close to an agreement that would have given the league a stake in ESPN and ESPN oversight of NFL Media, but there has been little news on that front for months. ESPN and the NBA were also believed to be in line for a potential deal, though talks between the sides were not expected to begin until after the league’s media rights deals were reached.
Iger, who first broached the possibility of a strategic partner for ESPN last summer, said that the company still believes “there may be opportunities to partner with others, particularly on the content side,” but had little else to add on the topic.
Senators seek DOJ investigation of Venu
Three U.S. senators — Joaquin Castro, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — are asking the Department of Justice to scrutinize Venu Sports, the joint venture streaming service operated by Disney, Fox Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery, it was announced this week. In a letter to the DOJ, the senators expressed concern that Venu would “control more than 80% of nationally broadcast sports and more than half of all national sports content, putting it in a position to exercise monopoly power over televised sports.” (It should be noted that Venu would not have exclusive rights to any of the events that it carries, and all of them would be available by any number of alternative means, from streaming MVPDs to basic cable to other direct-to-subscriber platforms.)
Echoing an argument made by Fubo in its lawsuit seeking to block Venu, the senators also noted that the other streaming MVPDs are at a competitive disadvantage as they are forced to bundle less popular channels — such as Freeform or FX — in order to carry more popular sports programming. Venu, by contrast, will only carry sports networks.
Plus: Roundball Rock, Jim Bell, Rowdy Gaines
— John Tesh unveiled a revised version of his NBA on NBC theme song “Roundball Rock” on The Dan Le Batard Show Thursday. The new version, recorded for a new album Tesh plans to release later this year, is a modified version of the original theme he cut for NBC (the network would primarily use slightly altered versions throughout its run). It is not entirely clear if the new version will be used on NBC’s NBA coverage when it resumes in 2025.
— Former NBC “Today” executive producer Jim Bell is among the finalists to fill the vacancy left by Norby Williamson at ESPN, John Ourand of Puck reported this week. Bell produced NBC’s Olympics coverage from 2012-18 and left the company in 2019. Per Ourand, another contender for the position is longtime ESPN executive Mike McQuade.
— NBC Olympic swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines said this week that the next Summer Olympics — Los Angeles in 2028 — will be his last for the network. Gaines has served as NBC’s lead swimming analyst since 1992.
