elsewhere,
Warnermedia and Discovery have officially merged into one
company giving new meaning to the term media giant
discoveries acquisition will provide stiffer
competition to establish giants like netflix
and Disney
two companies now trade under the new ticker W. B. D.
On the NASDAQ starting today, opening at $24.08
a share.
Well,
joining me now for expert insight is Seth Shatner digital
business executive and managing director of consulting from Strat America's
Seth thanks so much for coming on the show. It's good to see you.
So now Warner brothers Discovery is gonna own HBO, HBO max,
CNN Warner brothers dc films, tbs Discovery
and the food network along with other channels.
Just how big is this merger for the media space?
Great to be here, christian.
Yeah, I mean,
I think this is obviously another media conglomerate behemoth murder if you will.
And I think
you know, if there is a big idea behind it, it is that um,
one perhaps needs to be bigger to compete with netflix or some
of the other tech titans that are out there and you know,
there there's been um,
quite a bit of history, you know, mixed,
I would just stay on the organizational side with,
with Warner and time Warner and and A T and T for sure and I know,
I think unlike some of the other murders that you've seen out there.
I think this one has actually got a real chance to be,
to be successful and to really further the cause of streaming.
Um, certainly on the international front as well.
Um,
so I come out actually kind of bullish on it and think
that the new Ceo David Zaslav has got a real chance.
I think it's a very credible company discovery that's coming in and um yeah,
for sure they're going to try and be bigger to, to, to compete.
No question there,
you know, it is interesting.
Seth how we cover inflation, rising prices increasingly, a very important,
if not the most important issue.
Two americans right now and we also know that
as americans try to cut costs due to inflation,
sometimes these streaming services are the first to go in an effort to save money.
Do we know how competitive the price points will be
and what content will get people sticking with these services?
Well, I think it's a great question. I think,
you know,
I think you can live very legitimately say how much is too much when
it comes to streaming services and do I really need all of these?
So of course, I think there'll be some extraneous services that are out there or,
or services in general that, you know, maybe or 5 99
that people will look at and go, hey, do I really need, for example, CNN plus,
which is what Zaslav is gonna
inherit from CNN
and I think,
I think it's pretty questionable when you start getting into the sort of smaller
niche oriented services, which, which ones will actually survive.
So I do think that Bundling
whether that's a CNN plus Discovery HBO max bundle,
I think we'll have some chance of being a key part of the mix to preserve these things,
you know, on a competitive basis.
But you know, the real thing that I see when you look at Discovery,
it's a really global company that got a lot of great experience.
Places like latin, America asia, certainly, europe, it's,
it's really different kind of complementary programming actually too
to what HBO max has.
So,
so I think there's some really nice pieces of the puzzle that are being added in here
to the center.
I think we,
yes
and his new leadership because I think that organization will be
bringing together. Yeah.
Seth, here's another question for you.
I know you mentioned CNN plus something that Zasloff now, of course,
the leader of this combined entity has inherited as part of this
deal.
We don't know a lot about CNN Plus, of course, it just recently launched,
but it has hired some huge big name
talent in the news space to try to gain
momentum as the streaming service gets off the ground.
Do you think that CNN Plus does have longevity here under this new company?
I mean, I think we have to see what it is,
my top level on it is that it's really questionable as a standalone vehicle,
as is some of these things from lots of the other broadcasters to be fair.
So if you're asking me to answer now, probably, probably not really on its own.
But I think the beauty of this new,
because I think there's two, your point, there's probably too many
subscription services that are already available and I don't, you know,
perhaps know why someone would want to spend
An extra, what is it 599 a month for, for more Anderson Cooper,
whoever it might be in the CNN family.
I think they're great.
But I think the product that I've seen sits between sort of news and features,
it's not really one or the other.
So I think it's a curious thing as a standalone proposition,
but this is why it might make sense in a bundle, basically.
What does this mean for the consumer? Is there a good deal here for the consumer?
I would bet that there is, you know, I mean, HBO max is
just a terrific entity in and of itself, some of the,
some of the best content that's out there, but I think they're, you know,
they're much smaller than the netflix for example, and Disney Plus, you know,
really,
um, growing in a tremendous way.
So yeah, I do think the good deal will be coming from, from bundles.
Um, the other thing is, you know, Discovery is a very powerful advertising entity.
So there will probably be more advertising options for advertisers that
are smarter and perhaps what we call a vod or,
or free,
ad supported television where streaming services will come out in the mix as well.
And so yeah, I think you'll see multiple options for consumers from this.
And this one looks very positive to me. I'm a supporter of it.
And I think, I think also you're not asking, but you know,
Warner releases movies and I think motion
pictures will come back and there's gaming.
So I think there's a lot of positive stuff that could come in the next
Year or two as this entity is formed and we pull out from the pandemic.
Okay. Seth always good to get your take.
Thanks for joining us from what looks like a beautiful
day in Malibu California that says Schaffner digital business executive
and managing director of the consulting firm Strat America's.