Gunnar Wiedenfels Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

reorganized its marketing department once again, axing writers on its fledgling Tudum fan site five months after launch. And the fallout from the Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterIn the wake of big spender Netflix’s Q1 shocking subscriber loss news, David Zaslav made a point to say Warner Bros. Discovery “will not overspend to drive subscriber growth” during Discovery’s first-quarter earnings call Tuesday.“As you’ve heard me say, we are not trying to win the direct-to-consumer spending war,” the WBD CEO said, instead promising that the newly combined WarnerMedia-Discovery company would “invest in scale smartly.”Warner Bros.

The final bow has been placed atop the $40 billion merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, forming one of the largest pure content players in the media business.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorWarnerMedia and Discovery are on the cusp of officially closing their deal. With the change in leadership at the new Warner Bros. Discovery, will there be pricing changes for the new conglomerate’s flagship HBO Max streaming service?Insiders say there aren’t any immediate plans to alter HBO Max’s pricing scheme — in the U.S., it currently costs $14.99/month without ads, the same as it did when the service debuted in May 2020, and $9.99/month with ads.Similarly, it’s likely that Discovery Plus will remain at $6.99/month without ads and $4.99/month with ads for the time being.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThey’ll come for the high-wattage HBO and Warner Bros. content. They’ll stick around for Discovery’s lifestyle comfort food.That’s the formula that Warner Bros.

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who has long espoused the benefits of streaming’s boom times, said he’s “not nervous” about Warner Bros Discovery possibly pumping the brakes as it looks to take on Netflix and Disney.

Manori Ravindran International EditorWarner Bros. Discovery’s plans to merge streaming services HBO Max and Discovery Plus in the U.S.

Warner Bros Discovery, the company created by merging Discovery Inc. and WarnerMedia, and signed a new employment agreement through the end of 2027.

Eventually, HBO Max and Discovery+ will come together as a single streaming offering, but the integration will “take a while,” CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said at an investor conference today.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery — which is about to become Warner Bros. Discovery within the next month, when its merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia closes — has confirmed its plans to combine its current streaming service Discovery Plus and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max into one service, rather than offer the two platforms as a bundle.Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who will also serve as CFO of the newly combined Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery CEO promises that the company is not in a race to win the “spending wars” on content when it closes its deal to acquire AT&T’s WarnerMedia and become Warner Bros. Discovery.“We’re going to spend more on content — but you’re not going to see us come in and say, ‘Alright, we’re spending $5 billion more on content,” Zaslav said during an investor call Thursday to discuss the company’s Q4 earnings results.Zaslav says the new company — which will run both Discovery’s current major streamer Discovery Plus and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max — will be “looking to monetize our IP to grow the value of the overall company.”Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels echoed Zaslav’s point, saying “it’s not about winning” and “spending more money doesn’t score goals.” Click here to sign up for Variety‘s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial and investment news, and more.Discovery revealed Thursday it reached 22 million paying streaming subscribers across its portfolio of offerings by the end of 2021.

Executives on both sides of the $43-billion WarnerMedia-Discovery merger confirmed the deal is on track to close by the middle of next year but details otherwise remain scarce on the combination that will reshape the media industry.

By Jill Goldsmith