Less than two weeks after its final NBA broadcast, TNT Sports faces a far bigger split — a separation from the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Warner Bros. Discovery announced on Monday that it plans to spin off its cable networks — CNN and the networks of TNT Sports — into a new company. The spun off company, temporariily titled “Global Networks,” will be led by current WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. The separation is expected to close in the middle of next year.
The remaining WBD properties will consist of Warner Bros. studios, HBO and HBO Max, and will continue to be led by WBD CEO David Zaslav.
The announcement marks the second time in this decade that CNN and the Turner networks have been spun off. Warner Bros. Discovery was created from AT&T spinning off what was then WarnerMedia into a new company that combined with Discovery. The status of the networks once known under the Time Warner banner has been uncertain for many years, with Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox once kicking the tires on acquiring them in the mid-2010s.
Unlike the previous spinoff, the separation of CNN and Turner from HBO — and particularly HBO Max — removes a key pillar of the brand. The spun off company is also expected to take on the majority of WBD’s $37 billion in debt.
The separation complicates the recent sports strategy at WBD, which has carried its live sports properties across both TNT Sports and Max, with a number of events airing exclusively on the latter. Asked about the future of sports on Max, Zaslav downplayed the importance. “Inside the U.S., sports has been less critical. It’s been 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.”
As for the future of the debt-saddled Global Networks, Zaslav expressed optimism. “The Global Networks business is a real business … having the free-to-air as well as all of the cable and a leader in sports around the world, I think will be very strong.”
