Warner Bros. Discovery is considering a sale; Fox announces more FIFA World Cup games to be presented on broadcast television; and Prime Video is expanding NFL Black Friday Football globally. Plus news on the NFL-ESPN deal, Netflix, Daytona 500 and Golf Channel.
Warner Bros. Discovery considering sale options
Warner Bros. Discovery announced Tuesday that it is reviewing potential sale options — including the sale of the entire company — citing interest from multiple possible suitors.
WBD, which was formed through a merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery four years ago, has been saddled with debt that initially stood at more than $50 billion, but the company has been paying it down over the years. The company plans to shed most of its remaining debt by allocating it to the linear cable networks it plans to spin off next year.
Warner Bros. Discovery has already rejected three bids from Paramount Skydance, according to a report by David Faber of CNBC, the most recent of which came in “just under $24 per share and was comprised of 80% cash.” BofA securities analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich recently estimated a consolidated Warner Bros. Discovery to be worth about $30 per share. Charles Gasparino of the New York Post reported that WBD CEO David Zaslav has the support of the board to keep rejecting offers “until they come close to $30 a share,” but that he will keep looking at breaking up the company either in the aggregate or in steps.
WBD may be sold in its entirety, or the conglomerate could instead allow a merger of Warner Bros. with another company while spinning off Discovery Global to shareholders. Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg reported that WBD expects to ask potential bidders to sign NDAs ahead of sharing financial information. There have been various reports indicating that Comcast, Netflix and Apple could be involved in the bidding process.
Fox to air more FIFA World Cup matches on broadcast TV
Next year’s expanded 48-team FIFA World Cup in United States, Canada and Mexico next summer will feature about two-thirds of the matches on English-language broadcast television. Fox Sports said Wednesday that 69 of the 104 matches will air on the FOX broadcast network, approximately double the total (34) from previous World Cup four years ago. Though it did not specify the number, Fox said that there will be more matches in primetime on its broadcast network than in any other World Cup.
The other 35 matches will air live on FS1. In total, Fox Sports will air more than 340 hours of programming surrounding the FIFA World Cup, which the network said is “a 100-hour increase” over the 2022 version of the tournament.
Fox Sports has been the U.S. English-language television rightsholder for the tournament since 2011. FIFA has not determined which entity will present the 2030 World Cup, which is set to be hosted across Morocco, Portugal and Spain. The international federation granted Netflix the U.S. broadcast rights for the 2027 and 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments in a deal announced over the summer.
Fox Sports CEO and executive producer Eric Shanks called the presentation of the tournament “the biggest production” in the 32-year history of the company, referring to it as a “once-in-a-lifetime event.” The full broadcast schedule for the tournament will be announced on Friday, Dec. 5 during the FIFA World Cup 26 Final Draw.
Prime Video broadcasting NFL Black Friday Game globally
Amazon’s Prime Video will air the NFL Black Friday Football game featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears to a global audience for free, it was announced Wednesday. The company is entering its third year streaming a football game on the day after Thanksgiving, but it will mark the first time it presents an NFL matchup outside of the United States. Prime Video coverage will be accessible to more than 240 countries and territories across the globe, with the exception of Canada and some other countries.
In addition to Prime Video, the NFL Black Friday game will be accessible on mobile devices to NFL+ subscribers. NFL Game Pass will air the game outside of the U.S. through DAZN, which is in the third season of a 10-year partnership with the league for the streaming service.
Combined with its doubleheader slate of NBA games streaming in the U.S. and internationally in select territories, Prime Video will air over 12 hours of live sports coverage on Black Friday. All five of the largest Nielsen-rated DMAs — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia — will have a professional sports team playing on either NFL or NBA coverage on Prime for the holiday. “The Skins Game” PGA TOUR event with Keegan Bradley, Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas will begin the day on Prime Video at 9 AM ET.
The expansion of NFL Black Friday Football aligns with recent comments made by Jay Marine, who oversees global sports and the U.S. business for Prime Video. “We want to have top, premier sports in every major Prime country we operate in, and we’re on our way,” Marine told Andrew Marchand on “The Main Event” podcast earlier this month.
Plus: NFL-ESPN, Netflix, Daytona 500, Golf Channel
- NFL owners have voted to approve the nonbinding agreement that grants the league a 10% equity stake in ESPN in exchange for NFL Network and other media assets; however, the deal is still pending regulatory approval. NFL EVP of media distribution Hans Schroeder called the pact a “real win for football fans,” but he did not indicate when antitrust review will be completed or a closing date.
- Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in an earnings call Tuesday that the company is “focused on big live events” in sports rather than acquiring “big season packages,” reiterating a point that company executives have repeatedly made. He added that live programming accounts for a “very small portion” of hours viewed on Netflix.
- The Daytona 500 will not take place on President’s Day weekend in 2027, which coincides with Super Bowl Sunday that year. The race will instead take place on the following Sunday.
- Golf Channel, soon to be owned by Versant, is bringing back the golf reality competition show “Big Break” next year in a partnership with Good Good Golf, it was revealed on Wednesday afternoon. The program will be hosted by Blair O’Neal and Matt Scharff and feature golfers competing in challenges for a chance to receive an exemption into the PGA TOUR Good Good Championship next November.
