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HOLLYWOOD REPORTER THEORIZES POSSIBLE MERGER FOR WB DISCOVERY & NBC UNIVERSAL, WHICH WOULD HAVE MASSIVE PRO WRESTLING RAMIFICATIONS

The Hollywood Reporter featured a piece today about the difficulties facing Warner Brothers Discovery in the wake of their recent merger with one of the most interesting aspects coming out of it being the idea of a potential merger with WBD and NBC Universal:

"Given the company’s daunting challenges, it has become accepted wisdom at the highest levels of the industry that another deal waits in the wings for Warner Bros. Discovery. For reasons related to the complicated structure of that merger, no negotiations can happen until April 2024. But at that point, many industry observers believe that Comcast’s Brian Roberts will make a long-awaited move, looking to combine NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery.

That deal would face some interesting antitrust issues but would give his company scale and a viable streaming service. “Obviously Peacock sucks,” says one exec with knowledge of both companies. “There are some good synergies. I’m sure [Roberts] is licking his chops because the [WBD] stock is so low. And I think that’s Zaslav’s endgame. Get the place sold.” (Roberts and NBCU CEO Jeff Shell met with Zaslav and board member John Malone during the Allen & Co. gathering in Sun Valley last July, but given the rules against plotting any combination, that was no doubt just a friendly get-together.) A?WBD spokesperson responds: “We are building Warner Bros. Discovery for the long term.” 

Many top industry execs are so convinced a deal will happen that some are pre-mourning an event that may never happen. “People feel like it’s Comcast for sure,” says the head of one company. “It’s going to be so depressing to lose another major studio [after Disney bought Fox]. And Warners was the Tiffany studio.” "

While 2024 is a long way off, the theoretical merger would have massive ramifications for professional wrestling.  NBC Universal is the long-time exclusive cable home to WWE programming while WBD inherited WarnerMedia's existing deal with AEW, which currently runs through 2024.  Obviously, if the two companies had a merger, it's impossible to tell what this would mean for professional wrestling as a whole on a national cable broadcast level.  

 

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