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Warner Brother Studios in Hollywood
Photo: MARIO ANZUONI / REUTERS
The US telecom group AT&T is merging its media business with the cable and streaming provider Discovery.
The media content, to which the channels CNN and HBO as well as TLC belong, will be bundled, announced AT&T.
The merger creates a new media giant and strong competitor for the streaming services Netflix and Disney +.
AT&T should benefit from the business with 43 billion dollars in cash, shares and in the form of debt assumptions, as the company announced.
The shareholders of AT&T should also get a majority of 71 percent in the new company.
In 2018 AT&T bought Time Warner for 80 billion dollars and renamed it WarnerMedia.
The company also owns the Hollywood studio Warner Bros. The company had borrowed heavily for the deal.
According to Discovery, it operates channels in 220 countries, including Eurosport.
Discovery boss is supposed to lead companies
The new company will be led by Discovery boss David Zaslav.
The Wall Street Journal had previously reported this and wrote that it was unclear whether the head of WarnerMedia, Jason Kilar, would stay on board.
Kilar's name did not appear in the notification on Monday.
In addition to HBO, CNN and Warner Bros., WarnerMedia also includes other channels such as TNT.
Discovery has so far focused on documentary formats with broadcasters such as Animal Planet and Food Network.
The TV and film business is undergoing a profound change with the advance of streaming services, which the corona pandemic has accelerated again.
WarnerMedia is currently trying to keep up with the streaming service HBO Max, which also shows Warner films.
Competitors Netflix and Disney are particularly strong in the streaming business.
Streaming is also thinning the revenues in the long lucrative cable TV business in the USA.
The Warner news broadcaster CNN, which can be seen on cable TV in the USA, experienced an upswing with the election campaign for the White House last year, but viewership has recently declined again.
dab / Reuters / AFP / dpa
