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99-436: Founded on August 15, 2001 as Discovery Civilization Channel , but after multiple ownership changes, the channel is currently majority-owned and operated by Bell Media, with a 20% share held by Discovery Science Channel's U.S. parent company Discovery Civilization North America, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery , and a minority share also owned by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation through ESPN Inc. (via

198-487: A $ 39 billion stock and cash offer. The bid was withdrawn after the takeover company was faced with significant regulatory and legal hurdles, along with heavy resistance from the U.S. government. As per the original acquisition agreement, T-Mobile received $ 3 billion in cash as well as access to $ 1 billion worth of AT&T-held wireless spectrum. In September 2013, AT&T announced it would expand into Latin America through

297-531: A 20% interest. The channel was originally described in regulatory documents as "a national English-language Category 2 specialty television service dedicated to bringing the diverse people and cultures of the world to Canadian viewers. The service will be dedicated to exploring and understanding the roots of human development and learning from other cultures and traditions." The channel was launched on August 15, 2001 as Discovery Civilization Channel, with programming devoted to human civilization and history. The channel

396-469: A 75% controlling interest in The CW; WBD and Paramount would each retain a 12.5% ownership interest in the network. Nexstar stated that Mark Pedowitz would remain chairman and CEO of the network. WBD and Paramount would still produce content for The CW as the network's main content suppliers, but Nexstar stated that the arrangement would be for the 2022–23 broadcast season , and it was given "the option to extend

495-530: A Canadian version of USA Network , CTV Nature will take over much of Discovery's previous mandate within the Bell Media portfolio, repurposing certain Canadian factual series previously commissioned by Bell, as well as other content related to science, nature, and history from third-party distributors. On June 17, 2011 Bell Media announced that it would launch Discovery Science HD, a high definition (HD) simulcast of

594-567: A broader array of content. It was reported that the company had also suspended scripted development at TBS and TNT , to evaluate their strategies moving forward. The following day, Zaslav purchased approximately $ 1 million worth of WBD stock. On May 11, 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery eliminated several executive positions carried over from WarnerMedia, including Kids, Young Adults and Classics head Tom Ascheim , and general manager of TBS, TNT, and TruTV head Brett Weitz. These networks would be overseen by Finch as head of U.S. Networks, while

693-589: A collaboration with América Móvil . In December 2013, AT&T announced plans to sell its Connecticut wireline operations to Stamford-based Frontier Communications . AT&T acquired BellSouth Corporation on December 29, 2006, following FCC approval. The transaction consolidated ownership and management of Cingular Wireless. AT&T rebranded its wireless retail stores from Cingular to AT&T in January 2007. In late 2014, AT&T purchased Mexican cellular carrier Iusacell , and two months later, it purchased

792-473: A consultant. WBD delivered its second-quarter earnings report on August 4, 2022. Ahead of the report, the company performed multiple cuts to HBO Max throughout July and early-August, including cutting new programming development in much of Europe, live-action children's programming development, and direct-to-streaming films—leading to the notable August 3 cancellations of the nearly-completed films Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt as tax write-offs , and

891-408: A contractual commitment that would require any new owner to buy new programming from those companies, allowing them to reap some continual revenue through the network. The CW's then-president-and-CEO Mark Pedowitz confirmed talks of a potential sale in a memo to CW staffers, but added that "It's too early to speculate what might happen." On January 26, 2022, AT&T CEO John Stankey stated that

990-440: A culture of internal competition between WarnerMedia's businesses. He also expected that "investment avoidance" via the consolidation of redundant business units (such as streaming) and staff would be one of the main ways that the company would achieve its promised $ 3 billion in cost savings. On April 21, 2022, Licht and Perrette announced the shutdown of CNN's streaming service CNN+ , which had only launched two weeks prior to

1089-512: A lawsuit by Bell, which claimed the move would violate previous non-compete clauses with WBD; the matter was settled out of court in October. Rogers announced that Discovery Science content would move to its on-demand and streaming platforms including Citytv+ , rather than a new linear channel. On October 17, 2024, Bell Media announced the channel would rebrand as CTV Nature Channel on January 1, 2025. With Bell's former Discovery Channel rebranding as

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1188-493: A lawsuit for the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division to block the merger with Time Warner, saying it "will harm competition, result in higher bills for consumers and less innovation." On June 12, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that the merger could go forward. The merger closed two days afterwards, with Time Warner becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. A day later,

1287-425: A new publicly traded company. AT&T and Discovery officially confirmed the agreement the next day; the merger would be structured as a Reverse Morris Trust , with AT&T shareholders holding a 71% interest in the new company's stock and appointing seven board members, and Discovery shareholders holding a 29% interest and appointing six board members. AT&T would receive US$ 43 billion in cash and debt from

1386-634: A new studio, which will be funded by and have an exclusive, five-year distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures. Warner Bros. Pictures was then divided into three business units with their own leadership: former MGM executives Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy became the co-chairs of Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema , and temporarily oversaw the DC Films and Warner Animation Group units. Eight days later, WBD named former Discovery and Univision executive Luis Silberwasser as chairman of Sports. In July 2022, Alan Horn rejoined Warner Bros. as

1485-535: A partnership with local media company Stuff , which launched an evening newscast under the ThreeNews banner using its resources and former Newshub staff. In July 2024, CNN CEO Mark Thompson announced 100 employees would be laid off as part of a larger strategy to consolidate and integrate its television and digital operations. A week later, a smaller number of WBD employees at Max and in production, business affairs, and finance were also let go. On July 18, 2024, it

1584-409: A quarterly loss in subscribers), describing Warner Bros. Discovery as being a "far more balanced and competitive company" that would "invest at scale smartly" and not "overspend" on growth and that its streaming businesses would complement its linear television. He stated that HBO Max had "meaningful subscriber churn ", and that the planned merger of it with Discovery+ would help to reduce it by offering

1683-472: A separate entity, selling a 30% stake to TPG Capital (owners of Astound Broadband cable), while retaining a 70% stake in the new standalone company. The deal was closed on August 2, 2021. On May 17, 2021, AT&T announced plans to relinquish its equity interest in WarnerMedia , and have it merge with Discovery, Inc. in a US$ 43 billion deal to establish a new media company. Electronic Arts , which

1782-482: A single platform with a mixture of both companies' technologies. He also noted that WBD may prioritize launching Discovery+ and HBO Max as a unified platform in markets where Discovery+ has yet to launch, such as another parts of the Asia-Pacific. On March 14, 2022, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels—who would assume the same position post-merger—confirmed that such a transition was a long-term goal. On December 22, 2021,

1881-442: A specialty option. On April 24, 2020, AT&T announced that effective July 1, 2020, company COO John Stankey would replace Randall L. Stephenson as CEO of AT&T. It was also acknowledged that AT&T's acquisitions of DirecTV and Time Warner had by this point resulted in a massive debt burden of $ 200 billion for the company. As a result of planned cost cutting programs, the sale of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

1980-617: A wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. Cingular was then rebranded as AT&T Mobility . AT&T Inc. also acquired Time Warner in 2016, with the proposed merger confirmed on June 12, 2018 and the aim of making AT&T Inc. the largest and controlling shareholder of Time Warner, which it then rebranded as WarnerMedia in 2018. The company later withdrew its equity stake in WarnerMedia in 2022 and merged it with Discovery, Inc. to create Warner Bros. Discovery , divesting itself of its media arm. The current AT&T reconstitutes most of

2079-544: The Washington Post on May 10 confirmed the figure of 12 payments, which had begun three days after the President was sworn into office . AT&T confirmed the report the same day. The report from The Washington Post , as well as additional reporting from Bloomberg , revealed the payments had been made for Cohen to "provide guidance" relating to the attempted $ 85 billion merger with Time Warner , to gain information on

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2178-640: The American Telephone and Telegraph Company , is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas , Texas . It is the world's third largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest wireless carrier in the United States behind Verizon and T-Mobile . As of 2023, AT&T was ranked 13th on the Fortune 500 rankings of

2277-694: The Asia Pacific ; its regional headquarters is located in Hong Kong. The company is also active in Mexico, and on November 7, 2014, it was announced that Mexican carrier Iusacell would be acquired by AT&T. The acquisition was approved in January 2015. On April 30, 2015, AT&T acquired wireless operations Nextel Mexico from NII Holdings (now AT&T Mexico). AT&T's current board of directors as of March 2024: The current management as of March 2024 includes: According to OpenSecrets , AT&T

2376-525: The Baby Bells , Ameritech sold some of its Wisconsin landlines to CenturyTel , in 1998; BellSouth sold some of its lines to MebTel, during the 2000s; US West sold many historically Bell landlines to Lynch Communications and Pacific Telecom , in the 1990s; Verizon sold many of its New England lines to FairPoint in 2008, and its West Virginia operations to Frontier Communications in 2010. On October 25, 2014, Frontier Communications took over control of

2475-807: The Kingsbury Commitment , throughout most of the twentieth century. This monopoly was known as the Bell System , and during this period, AT&T was also known by the nickname Ma Bell . In 1982, U.S. regulators broke up the AT&;T monopoly , requiring AT&T to divest its local subsidiaries, which it did by grouping them into seven individual companies. These new companies were known as Regional Bell Operating Companies, or more informally, Baby Bells. AT&T continued to operate long-distance services but faced increasing competition from competitors such as MCI and Sprint . Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC)

2574-400: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) follows in its rulemaking processes. The FCC would have to act in a more transparent way as a result of this bill, forced to accept public input about regulations. AT&T's Executive Vice President of Federal Relations, Tim McKone, said that the bill's "much needed institutional reforms will help arm the agency with the tools to keep pace with

2673-416: The United States Department of Justice on February 9. On March 11, 2022, the merger was approved by Discovery's shareholders. Due to the structure of the merger, it did not require separate approval from AT&T shareholders. In an SEC filing on March 25, 2022, AT&T stated that two-way trading of WBD stock with that of AT&T would begin on April 4, 2022, and that a special dividend would be issued

2772-574: The standard definition feed, by the end of 2011. The channel was launched on December 15, 2011 on Bell Fibe TV and on September 11, 2012 on Telus Optik TV. Shaw Direct began using it on August 8, 2018. *Currently being sold to other owners pending approval of the CRTC. Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. ( WBD ) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in New York City . It

2871-446: The 2025–26 season, ending a nearly 36-year association between the NBA and TNT. WBD had attempted to invoke a condition in its contract allowing it to match offers made by competitors (with the company, in particular, targeting the package sold to Amazon), but the league argued that it did not sufficiently match Amazon's offer. WBD threatened to take legal action over the agreement, claiming that

2970-640: The 20th century, AT&T had a monopoly on phone service in the United States. The company was formally rebranded as AT&T Corporation in 1994. The 1982 United States v. AT&T antitrust lawsuit resulted in the divestiture of AT&T's ("Ma Bell") local operating subsidiaries which were grouped into seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), commonly referred to as "Baby Bells", resulting in seven independent companies, including Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC). The latter changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. in 1995. In 2005, SBC purchased its former parent AT&T Corp. and took on

3069-619: The AT&T landline network in Connecticut after being approved by state utility regulators. The deal was worth about $ 2 billion, and included Frontier inheriting about 2,500 of AT&T's employees and many of AT&T's buildings. The company is headquartered at Whitacre Tower in downtown Dallas, Texas. On June 27, 2008, AT&T announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from downtown San Antonio to One AT&T Plaza in downtown Dallas. The company said that it moved to gain better access to its customers and operations throughout

Discovery Science (Canadian TV channel) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3168-596: The CTV Specialty Television subsidiary, stemming from that subsidiary's ownership of sister network TSN ; ESPN is not believed to be involved in the operation of the channel). Bell Media will lose the rights to the Discovery Science brand and its U.S. programming at the end of 2024, at which time the channel will relaunch as CTV Nature Channel , with a mix of programs related to science, nature, and history.  Rogers Sports & Media  will take over

3267-501: The Canadian rights to Discovery Science programming, primarily distributing it through its streaming and on-demand platforms. Discovery Science was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on December 14, 2000 as Discovery Civilization Channel Canada. The application was granted to CTV Inc., and was later transferred to its subsidiary, CTV Specialty Television Inc., in which ESPN owns

3366-568: The Caribbean under the Vrio brand; and Advertising and Analytics, since renamed Xandr . On July 13, 2017, it was reported that AT&T would introduce a cloud-based DVR streaming service. It hoped to create a unified platform across DirecTV and its DirecTV Now streaming service, with U-verse to be added shortly afterward. The service, named HBO Max , launched in May 2020. On September 12, 2017, it

3465-484: The IPO due to market conditions. As of 2019, AT&T is the world's largest telecommunications company. AT&T is also the largest provider of mobile telephone services and the largest provider of fixed telephone (landline) services in the United States. In September 2019, activist investor Elliott Management revealed that it had purchased $ 3.2 billion of AT&T stock (a 1.2% equity interest), and had pushed for

3564-567: The Internet speed of today's marketplace. It will also ensure that outmoded regulatory practices for today's competitive marketplace are properly placed in the dustbin of history." In May 2018, reports emerged that AT&T made 12 monthly payments between January and December 2017 to Essential Consultants, a company set up by President Donald Trump 's lawyer Michael Cohen , totaling $ 600,000. Although initial reports on May 8 mentioned only four monthly payments totaling $ 200,000, documents obtained by

3663-590: The Mexican wireless business of NII Holdings . AT&T merged the two companies to create AT&T Mexico . In July 2015, AT&T purchased DirecTV for $ 48.5 billion. AT&T then announced plans to converge its existing U-verse home internet and IPTV brands with DirecTV , to create AT&T Entertainment . On October 22, 2016, AT&T announced a deal to buy Time Warner for $ 108.7 billion in an effort to increase its media holdings. On November 20, 2017, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim filed

3762-551: The NBA had "grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights". In August 2024, WBD reported that it had lost $ 10 billion in the second quarter of 2024, relating to continued losses from its direct-to-consumer segment and the devaluation of its linear TV assets. In November 2024, WBD agreed to a legal settlement with the NBA. The settlement included access to NBA highlights at no additional cost for Bleacher Report and House of Highlights and allowed for WBD, under its TNT Sports division, to continue operating NBA TV and NBA.com for

3861-506: The NBA. The agreement also included live game rights for select international territories, but none domestically. In a separate agreement with Disney , WBD agreed to sublicense its NBA studio show Inside the NBA to ESPN and ABC in exchange for ESPN sublicensing Big 12 college football and basketball games to TNT Sports. Warner Bros. Discovery consists of eight primary business divisions: AT%26T AT&T Inc. , an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name,

3960-553: The Private Enterprise Board of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC is a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives that drafts and shares model state-level legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States. During the period of 1998 to 2019, the company expended US$ 380.1 million on lobbying in

4059-564: The Time Warner name in 2003. Time Warner spun off its cable division (later known as Spectrum owned by Charter Communications ) and AOL (now owned by Yahoo! Inc. ) in 2009 and Time Inc. was spun out in 2013, which was later acquired by Meredith Corporation and is now known as Dotdash Meredith . In 2018, Discovery Communications and AT&T acquired Scripps Networks Interactive and Time Warner, and were renamed to Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia respectively. In 2019, AT&T dissolved

Discovery Science (Canadian TV channel) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4158-570: The Trump administration's planned tax reforms, as well as about potential changes to net neutrality policies under the new FCC. Chairman of the FCC Ajit Pai denied Cohen ever inquired about net neutrality on AT&T's behalf. A spokesperson for AT&T said that the company had been contacted by the Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller regarding the payments, and had provided all

4257-511: The Turner Broadcasting System as part of its reorganization of its media assets. On May 16, 2021, Bloomberg News reported that AT&T was considering an offer to divest equity interest in their media subsidiary WarnerMedia (the former Time Warner, which AT&T acquired in 2018 for just over $ 85 billion in an attempt to become a vertically integrated media conglomerate ), and have it merge with Discovery, Inc. to form

4356-519: The United States. A key political issue for AT&T has been the question of which businesses win the right to profit by providing broadband internet access in the United States. The company has also lobbied in support of several federal bills. AT&T supported the Federal Communications Commission Process Reform Act of 2013 (H.R. 3675; 113th Congress) , a bill that would make a number of changes to procedures that

4455-453: The advertisement-supported cable channels of its predecessors, namely Discovery, Scripps Networks , Turner Broadcasting , and Warner), CNN Worldwide (which includes CNN and CNN International ), TNT Sports (including Motor Trend Group , TNT Sports UK , and Eurosport ), Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment (which includes the Discovery+ and Max streaming services, as well as

4554-417: The auspices of Investigation Discovery and abandoning its remaining original live news programming. In January 2023, WBD announced licensing agreements with the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services The Roku Channel and Fox Corporation 's Tubi , featuring library content from Discovery, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, and HBO (including some of

4653-469: The better-known AT&T name and brand, with the original AT&T Corporation still existing as the long-distance landline subsidiary of the merged company. The current AT&T Inc. claims the original AT&T Corporation's history (dating to 1877) as its own, but retains SBC's pre-2005 corporate structure and stock price history. As well, all SEC filings before 2005 are under SBC, not AT&T. AT&T made an attempt in 2011 to purchase T-Mobile for

4752-658: The breach. AT&T was also reported to have been affected by a 2024 attack from the Salt Typhoon advanced persistent threat linked to the Chinese government . Of the eight companies that were part of the Breakup of the Bell System, these five are a part of the current AT&T: AT&T's wireline business provides services in 22 states. The following companies have become defunct or were sold under SBC/AT&T ownership: Of

4851-483: The change of plans during an earnings call, saying that Discovery+ has "profitable subscribers that are very happy with the product offering". In early-June 2023, Chris Licht was fired from CNN. On June 20, 2023, WBD underwent a round of layoffs affecting around 100 employees in the U.S. Networks division, most notably including multiple Turner Classic Movies (TCM) executives such as Pola Changnon (who had been with Turner for over 25 years). WBD announced plans to place

4950-551: The channel under Cartoon Network head Michael Ouweleen . It was also reported that WBD was preparing a deal to sell half of the published music catalog of Warner Bros. Entertainment (which consists primarily of music composed for its films and TV series, and is currently being administered by Universal Music Publishing Group ) for around $ 500 million. Amid concerns over the future of TCM, Martin Scorsese , Steven Spielberg , and Paul Thomas Anderson met with Zaslav, and on June 23 it

5049-516: The company aimed to be the "most innovative, exciting and fun place to tell stories in the world", and would combine Warner Bros.' "fabled hundred-year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life" with Discovery's "integrity, innovation and inspiration." In an SEC Filing on November 18, 2021, Discovery revealed that talks with AT&T had fallen through, in April 2021, due to disagreements over

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5148-800: The company changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. In early 1997 C. Michael Armstrong was named CEO, and Armstrong appointed John Zeglis as president later in that same year. By 1998, the company was in the top 15 of the Fortune 500, and by 1999, when Zeglis assumed the positions of chairman and CEO of AT&T Wireless , AT&T was part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (lasting through 2015). Zeglis ended his service as president of AT&T in 2001 and resigned from his positions in AT&T Wireless in 2004. On November 18, 2005, SBC Communications purchased its former parent, AT&T Corporation for $ 16 billion. After this purchase, SBC adopted

5247-402: The company is reported to shareholders on an annual basis and a matter of public record. Where performance has been restated, the most recent statement of performance from an annual report is used. AT&T reported Total CO2e emissions (Direct + Indirect) for the twelve months ending 31 December 2020 at 5,788 Kt (-737 /-11.3% y-o-y) and plans to reduce emissions by 63% by 2030 from

5346-475: The company made a number of further acquisitions. In 1979, Warner Communications formed a joint venture with credit card company American Express called Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment . American Express acquired a 50% stake in Warner Communications' cable television holdings for $ 175 million. This company owned such cable channels as MTV , Nickelodeon , The Movie Channel , and VH1 (which

5445-421: The company to divest assets to improve its share value. On March 4, 2020, AT&T announced its intent to perform major cost-cutting moves, including cuts to capital investment, and plans to promote AT&T TV (which officially launched nationally on March 2) as its primary pay television service offering. AT&T stated it would still primarily promote DirecTV "where cable broadband is not prevalent", and as

5544-527: The company was renamed WarnerMedia. Three months after completing the acquisition, AT&T reorganized into four main units: Communications, including consumer and business wireline telephony, AT&T Mobility, and consumer entertainment video services; WarnerMedia, including Turner cable television networks, Warner Bros. film and television production, and HBO ; AT&T Latin America, consisting of wireless service in Mexico and video in Latin America and

5643-410: The company's top executive roles are filled by their Discovery counterparts, including Gunnar Wiedenfels as Warner Bros. Discovery's chief financial officer (CFO), JB Perrette as president and CEO of global streaming and interactive, and Discovery's chief lifestyle brands officer Kathleen Finch —whose role has been expanded to cover most of the combined company's U.S. linear networks, besides CNN (which

5742-402: The completion of the merger; the new leadership considered it to be incompatible with their goal of a unified streaming service for all WBD properties. In an investors' call on April 26 (concurrent with the first quarter earnings reports for Discovery Inc., its last prior to the merger), Zaslav contrasted the company's streaming businesses with those of Netflix (whose stock saw a decline after

5841-444: The consolidation of Cartoon Network Studios ' and Warner Bros. Animation 's development and production teams (with the two studios remaining separate labels with their own distinct output). On October 3, 2022, Nexstar closed its deal to acquire a controlling interest in The CW. Mark Pedowitz resigned from his position as the network's chairman and CEO, with Dennis Miller stepping in as the president of The CW. In October 2022, it

5940-489: The divestment. The merger was expected to be completed in mid-2022. The new company would be led by Discovery's current CEO, David Zaslav ; WarnerMedia's CEO Jason Kilar 's position in the new company was uncertain. Zaslav stated that the two companies would spend a combined US$ 20 billion annually on content (outpacing even Netflix ). The company will aim to expand their streaming services, which includes WarnerMedia's Max , to reach 400 million global subscribers. It

6039-501: The former Bell System , and includes four of the seven "Baby Bells" along with the original AT&T Corp., including the long-distance division . AT&T was founded as Bell Telephone Company by Alexander Graham Bell , Thomas Watson and Gardiner Greene Hubbard after Bell's patenting of the telephone in 1875. By 1881, Bell Telephone Company had become the American Bell Telephone Company. One of its subsidiaries

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6138-510: The headquarters for AT&T Mobility, with significant offices in Redmond, Washington, the former home of AT&T Wireless . Bedminster, New Jersey, is the headquarters for the company's Global Business Services group and AT&T Labs and is where the original AT&T Corp. remains located. St. Louis continues as home to the company's Directory operations, AT&T Advertising Solutions . AT&T also offers services in many locations throughout

6237-666: The information requested in November and December 2017. In early 2019, the Democratic House Judiciary requested records related to the AT&T-Time Warner merger from the White House . While it has expressed support for LGBTQ causes, AT&T has also donated to sponsors of anti-transgender legislation in several US states, especially those predominantly Republican -governed, including Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas and Florida. The financial performance of

6336-524: The largest United States corporations, with revenues of $ 122.4 billion. The modern company to bear the AT&T name began its history as the American District Telegraph Company, formed in St. Louis in 1878. After expanding services to Arkansas , Kansas , Oklahoma and Texas through a series of mergers, it became Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1920, which was then a subsidiary of

6435-411: The latter's branding, history, and stock trading symbol, as well as a version of its iconic logo. The merged entity, naming itself AT&T Inc., launched on December 30, 2005. The newly merged and renamed AT&T Inc. acquired BellSouth Corporation in 2006, the last independent Baby Bell, making the two companies' joint venture Cingular Wireless (which had itself acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004)

6534-456: The merger was expected to close sometime during the second quarter of 2022. On February 1, 2022, it was reported that AT&T had finalized the structure of the merger: WarnerMedia would be spun off pro rata to AT&T's shareholders, and then merge into Discovery Inc. to form the new company. The transaction was approved by the Brazilian antitrust regulator Cade on February 7, followed by

6633-705: The next day to give AT&T shareholders a 0.24 share in WBD for each share of AT&T common stock they hold. The merger was officially completed on April 8, 2022, with trading beginning on the Nasdaq on April 11. At this time the company unveiled its final logo, designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv , which features a rendition of Warner Bros.' long-time shield logo. The combined company retained several top executives from WarnerMedia, including film and television heads Toby Emmerich and Channing Dungey , and HBO and HBO Max chief content officer (CCO) Casey Bloys. Most of

6732-463: The number of HBO Max subscribers by at least 10 million by counting inactivated subscriptions bundled with AT&T services—thus misleading investors in violation of the Securities Act . It also alleged that Discovery executives failed to warn investors that WarnerMedia's prospectus contained misleading statements. On September 28 during a company town hall, Zaslav addressed speculation that WBD

6831-490: The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company . The latter was a successor of the original Bell Telephone Company founded by Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. The American Bell Telephone Company formed the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) subsidiary in 1885. In 1899, AT&T became the parent company after the American Bell Telephone Company sold its assets to its subsidiary. During most of

6930-437: The ownership of the new company between AT&T and Discovery shareholders, and the amount of debt transferred to Discovery when they merged with WarnerMedia, before talks resumed on May 17, 2021. In November 2021, during an earnings call, Discovery Streaming CEO JB Perrette discussed possible options for its Discovery+ streaming service post-merger, including bundling the service with HBO Max and eventually merging them under

7029-456: The partnership." As the transaction did not need any regulatory approval (unlike the "Big Four" networks , The CW does not own any of its stations), Nexstar immediately took over the network's operations. In September 2022, WBD became the subject of a proposed class-action lawsuit by one of its shareholders, alleging that WarnerMedia was overinvesting in streaming content "without sufficient concern for return on investments", and had overstated

7128-817: The planned merger of Discovery+ and HBO Max would occur by summer 2023 in the United States, with other markets to follow. HBO subsequently faced a reorganization on August 15 to dismantle most of HBO Max's autonomous units, with HBO Max's head of comedy Suzanna Makkos now reporting to HBO's head of comedy Amy Gravitt, and layoffs within HBO Max's non-scripted, live-action family entertainment, international originals, and casting units, as well as HBO's acquisitions unit. HBO Max also continued to remove and cancel some of its lesser-viewed original programming, particularly family-oriented and animated series. On August 15, 2022, Nexstar confirmed to another report by WSJ in June that it would buy

7227-426: The production of direct-to-streaming films for HBO Max—with Zaslav arguing that they lacked economic value and impact in comparison to theatrical releases. WBD renewed its contracts with Bloys and other key HBO executives, with Zaslav praising his performance as chief content officer. Zaslav stated that a "10-year plan" was in development for DC Films, modeled after those of Marvel Studios , while Perrette stated that

7326-448: The quiet removals of multiple HBO Max original films from the platform and its upcoming releases. In the second quarter of 2022, WBD took $ 9.8 billion in revenue and a net loss of $ 2.2 billion pro forma , primarily from integration and restructuring expenses. The company took $ 825 million in write-offs on "content impairments and development". The company confirmed cuts to children's programming development, and abandoned

7425-463: The series that were pulled from HBO Max earlier). On February 8, 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that WBD had amended its plans to merge Discovery+ with HBO Max, with HBO Max's successor slated to include "most" Discovery content, and Discovery+ remaining operational to retain its subscriber base, and provide an alternative option for customers not interested in the higher-priced unified service. On February 24, WBD CEO David Zaslav confirmed

7524-442: The studio. Gunn will oversee creative development on DC projects, while Safran will oversee the business aspect. During an earnings report in November 2022, it was announced that the launch of WBD's streaming service had been moved up to spring 2023. Max was unveiled April 12, 2023. In December 2022, CNN announced cutbacks and a reorganization to prioritize its "core" operations, resulting in sister channel HLN being brought under

7623-556: The studios under the Kids, Young Adults and Classics division ( Warner Bros. Animation , Cartoon Network Studios and Williams Street ) was moved under Warner Bros. Television . The same day, it announced an agreement with British telecom company BT Group for it to contribute its BT Sport channels into a 50/50 joint venture with its UK Eurosport channels, and eventually merge them. On June 1, 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures head Toby Emmerich announced that he would step down and establish

7722-463: The transaction was approved by the European Commission . On January 5, 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that WarnerMedia and Paramount Global (at the time named ViacomCBS) were exploring a possible sale of either a majority stake or all of The CW , and that Nexstar Media Group was considered a leading bidder. The reports also indicated that WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS could include

7821-581: The video game publisher Warner Bros. Games ), and International Networks. It also holds a one-eighth stake in The CW (with Paramount Global also owning a one-eighth stake), and a majority stake in Television Food Network, G.P. (comprising Food Network and Cooking Channel ), which are co-owned by Nexstar Media Group . Warner Bros. , Turner Broadcasting System , Scripps Networks Interactive and Discovery, Inc. have conjoined histories. Warner Bros.

7920-551: The world, and to the key technology partners, suppliers, innovation and human resources needed as it continues to grow, domestically and internationally. AT&T Inc. previously relocated its corporate headquarters to San Antonio from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1992, when it was then named Southwestern Bell Corporation. The company's Telecom Operations group, which serves residential and regional business customers in 22 U.S. states, remains in San Antonio. Atlanta, Georgia, continues to be

8019-541: Was a bidder in the proposed sale of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, purchased the mobile gaming studio Playdemic from WBIE for US$ 1.4 billion in June 2021. In September 2021, Fox Corporation acquired TMZ from WarnerMedia in a deal worth about $ 50 million with TMZ being operated under the Fox Entertainment division. On December 21, 2021, AT&T announced that they had agreed to sell Xandr (and AppNexus ) to Microsoft for an undisclosed price. The deal

8118-449: Was announced that filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran would serve as the co-CEO and co-chairmen of DC Films which rebranded as DC Studios moving forward. The duo has signed a four-year deal that will oversee the production of films, television, and animation under the DC label. The pair will report directly to Zaslav, while also working alongside but independently with other members of

8217-663: Was announced that the channel would be placed under Warner Bros. Pictures Group heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy—who both affirmed the cultural significance of TCM and pledged to keep its programming "untouched and protected". In December 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced the purchase of Turkish streaming platform BluTV , with operations in the MENA region. On February 16, 2024, RedBird Capital Partners (via its United Arab Emirates -backed partnership RedBird IMI) announced its intent to acquire All3Media —a WBD joint venture with Liberty Global —for £1.15 billion. The acquisition

8316-501: Was completed in June 2022. On April 8, 2022, the spinoff of WarnerMedia and its subsequent merger with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery was completed. As a result of this merger, HBO Max and other video services were dropped from AT&T's unlimited plan offering. AT&T was one of several clients of Snowflake Inc. that had data stolen in a 2024 breach. Phone and text logs from May 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022 of "nearly all" AT&T customers were exposed as part of

8415-485: Was completed on May 16, 2024. WBD had previously announced an intent to sell its stake in the company to British broadcaster ITV plc , but the company declined. In April 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand announced that it would shut down its news department Newshub (which produced bulletins for its free-to-air channel Three ) in July 2024, citing declining local advertising revenue. Newshub would be supplanted by

8514-408: Was formed from WarnerMedia 's spin-off by AT&T and merger with Discovery, Inc. on April 8, 2022. The company's properties are divided into nine business units, consisting of the flagship Warner Bros. film and television studios, comic book publisher DC Comics , Home Box Office, Inc. (including HBO , Cinemax and Magnolia Network ), U.S. Networks Group (including the majority of

8613-843: Was founded on April 4, 1923, by four brothers, Harry , Albert , Sam , and Jack Warner . The company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation , television , and video games and is one of the "Big Five" American film studios , as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). In 1965, Turner Broadcasting System was founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta , Georgia. A year later, Kinney National Company came into existence and its media division became Warner Communications before merging with Time Inc. in 1990 to become Time Warner. During its time as Warner Communications,

8712-408: Was founded, launching The Discovery Channel three years later and was renamed to Discovery Communications in 1994. Scripps Networks Interactive was founded in 2008 spun off from E. W. Scripps Company 's cable division. In 1996, Time Warner Entertainment acquired the Turner Broadcasting System; but the company later merged with America Online (AOL) to form AOL Time Warner in 2001 and reverted to

8811-630: Was intended to be a Canadian version of a U.S. channel of the same name, which was later reformatted and renamed as Discovery Times, and later became Investigation Discovery . On June 4, 2010 CTVglobemedia announced that Discovery Civilization Channel would be rebranded as Discovery Science on September 27, 2010, focusing on science-related programming. On June 10, 2024, Rogers Sports & Media announced it had reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) for Canadian rights to its lifestyle brands beginning in January 2025, which were subsequently confirmed to include Discovery Science. This led to

8910-431: Was launched in 1985 on the channel space left by Turner's Cable Music Channel ). Warner Communications bought out American Express's half in 1984 and sold the venture a year later to the original iteration of Viacom , which renamed it MTV Networks (now known as Paramount Media Networks). In 1982, Warner Communications purchased Popular Library from CBS Publications . Meanwhile in the same year, Cable Education Network

9009-479: Was one of the companies created by the breakup of AT&T Corp. The company soon started a series of acquisitions, including the 1987 acquisition of Metromedia mobile business and the acquisition of several cable companies in the early 1990s. In the latter half of the 1990s, the company acquired several other telecommunications companies, including two Baby Bells ( Pacific Telesis Group and Ameritech Corporation ), while selling its cable business. During this time,

9108-590: Was proposed, but ultimately abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic -related growth in the video gaming industry, as well as a positive reception to upcoming DC Comics , Lego Star Wars , and Harry Potter titles from fans and critics. Crunchyroll was sold to Sony 's Funimation for US$ 1.175 billion in December 2020, with the acquisition closing in August 2021. On February 25, 2021, AT&T announced that it would spin-off DirecTV, U-Verse TV, and DirecTV Stream into

9207-439: Was pursuing a possible sale as early as 2024, stating that they were "absolutely not for sale", and "have everything we need to be successful." On October 11, Warner Bros. Television Group laid off 82 employees and eliminated 43 vacant positions as part of a restructuring that primarily impacts their unscripted and animation units. The restructuring saw the consolidation of Warner Horizon and Telepictures ' creative operations, and

9306-560: Was reported by the Financial Times that Zaslav and WBD executives had been discussing the possibility of breaking up the company, so that WBD's unprofitable linear television networks could be separated from the more profitable Warner Bros. studio business and Max. On July 24, 2024, the NBA officially announced new media rights agreements with Disney ( ESPN and ABC ), NBCUniversal ( NBC and Peacock ), and Amazon Prime Video beginning in

9405-428: Was reported that AT&T planned to launch a new cable TV-like service for delivery over-the-top over its own or a competitor's broadband network sometime the following year. On March 7, 2018, the company prepared to sell a minority stake of DirecTV Latin America through an IPO , creating a new holding company for those assets named Vrio Corp. On April 18, just a day before the public debut of Vrio, AT&T canceled

9504-444: Was stated that the company would aim to achieve $ 3 billion in cost savings via synergies within two years. On June 1, 2021, it was announced that the merged company would be known as Warner Bros. Discovery, and an interim wordmark was unveiled with the tagline "The stuff that dreams are made of"—a quote from the 1941 Warner Bros. film The Maltese Falcon , itself paraphrasing Shakespeare's The Tempest . Zaslav explained that

9603-609: Was taken over by Chris Licht , replacing the outgoing Jeff Zucker ), Magnolia Network (which reports to Bloys, after having previously reported directly to Zaslav under Discovery), and the Turner Sports unit (which would be overseen by the newly-formed Warner Bros. Discovery Sports division). In an introductory town hall featuring Oprah Winfrey as host, Zaslav stated that the combined company would need to have "one culture" that "starts with people feeling safe, people feeling valued for who they are", as opposed what he described as

9702-406: Was the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), established in 1885. On December 30, 1899, AT&T acquired the assets of its parent American Bell Telephone, becoming the new parent company. AT&T established a network of local telephone subsidiaries in the United States. AT&T and its subsidiaries held a phone service monopoly , authorized in 1913 by government authorities with

9801-418: Was the fourteenth-largest donor to United States federal political campaigns and committees from 1989 to 2019, having contributed more than US$ 84.1 million , 42% of which went to Republicans and 58% of which went to Democrats . In 2005, AT&T was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $ 250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush . Bill Leahy, representing AT&T, sits on

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