Warner Bros. Discovery

Credits

Descriptions by
Prodigy012

Editions by
Prodigy012

Background

WarnerMedia (formerly known as Time Warner from 1990 to 2001 and again from 2003 to 2018; from 2001 to 2003, AOL Time Warner and from 1972 to 1990, Warner Communications) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by AT&T and headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by Steve Ross as Warner Communications, and Time Warner was created in 1990, following a merger between Time Inc. and the original Warner Communications. On October 10, 1996, Time Warner acquired Turner Broadcasting System, which was established by Ted Turner in 1965. Not only did this result in the company (in a way) re-entering the basic cable television industry (in regards to nationally available channels), but Warner Bros. also regained the rights to their pre-1950 film library, which by then had been owned by Turner (the films are still technically held by Turner, but WB is responsible for sales and distribution), while Turner gained access to WB's post-1950 library, as well as other WB-owned properties. The Turner deal also brought two separate film companies, New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment, into the Time Warner fold. Despite spinning off Time Inc. in 2014, the company retained the Time Warner name until AT&T's acquisition in 2018, after which it became WarnerMedia. On October 22, 2016, AT&T officially announced that they intended on acquiring Time Warner for $85.4 billion (including assumed Time Warner debt), valuing the company at $107.50 per share. The proposed merger was confirmed on June 12, 2018, after AT&T won an antitrust lawsuit that the U.S. Justice Department filed in 2017 to attempt to block the acquisition. The merger closed two days later, with the company becoming a subsidiary of AT&T. The company's current name was adopted a day later. Under AT&T, the company moved to launch a streaming service built around the company's content, known as HBO Max two years later. On March 4, 2019, AT&T announced a major reorganization of its broadcasting assets to effectively dissolve Turner Broadcasting. Its assets were dispersed across two of the new divisions, WarnerMedia Entertainment and WarnerMedia News & Sports. WarnerMedia Entertainment would consist of HBO, TBS, TNT, TruTV, and the direct-to-consumer video service HBO Max. WarnerMedia News & Sports would have CNN Worldwide, Turner Sports, and the AT&T SportsNet regional networks led by CNN president Jeff Zucker. Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, Turner Classic Movies, and Otter Media would be moved under Warner Bros. Gerhard Zeiler moved from being president of Turner International to chief revenue officer of WarnerMedia, and will oversee the consolidated advertising and affiliation sales. David Levy and HBO chief Richard Plepler stepped down as part of the reorganization, which was described by The Wall Street Journal as being intended to end "fiefdoms". Turner Podcast Network, formed within Turner Content Distribution in 2017, became WarnerMedia Podcast Network by May 2019. WarnerMedia later refolded Turner's entertainment-based networks under a singular umbrella unit on August 10, 2020, through a consolidation of the WarnerMedia Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment assets into a new unit, WarnerMedia Studios & Networks Group. In May 2021, nearly three years after the acquisition, AT&T announced that it had proposed to spin-off WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery, Inc. to form a new publicly-traded company, Warner Bros. Discovery, under Discovery Inc.'s CEO David Zaslav. In December 2021, it was announced that the deal was approved by the European Commission and it is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022, subject to approval by Discovery shareholders and additional closing conditions. The company's previous assets included Time Inc., TW Telecom, AOL, Time Warner Cable, AOL Time Warner Book Group, and Warner Music Group; these operations were either sold to others or spun off as independent companies. The company was ranked No. 98 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

NOTE: This page will include Time Inc.

Time Inc.

1st Logo (2010)

TBA. Only seen on Bam's World Domination.

2nd Logo (2017)

TBA.

Time Warner

(August 25, 1991-1992?)

Logo: On a dark red (later black) background, we see the text "A TIME WARNER COMPANY" (later "A TIME WARNER ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY" in white.

FX/SFX: TBA.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Seen on some early shows made by HBO Independent Productions, such as the pilot episode of Roc.

Editor's Note: None.

AOL Time Warner

(2003)

Logo: On a blocky blue background, we see various clips of AOL Time Warner's films and shows. Then they all move to the left and "AOL Time Warner" in Times New Roman surrounded by lines zooms out

FX/SFX: 2D animation.

Music/Sounds: A bombastic fanfare.

Availability: Only seen on a corporate reel by AOL Time Warner.

Editor's Note: None.

WarnerMedia

TBA.