[5][6] In 1979, Warner Communications formed a joint venture with credit card company American Express called Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment.

The company will aim to expand their streaming services, which includes WarnerMedia's Max, to reach 400 million global subscribers.

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.

[26][27] 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.

[28] The reports also indicated that WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS could include 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.

[32][33] 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.

Most of 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 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.

[48] 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.

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 a broader array of content.

Holiday Haunt as tax write-offs, and the quiet removals of multiple HBO Max original films from the platform and its upcoming releases.

[70][71] The company confirmed cuts to children's programming development,[72] and abandoned 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.

[84] 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 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.

"[87][88] 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.

Mark Pedowitz resigned from his position as the network's chairman and CEO, with Dennis Miller stepping in as the president of The CW.

[93] In December 2022, CNN announced cutbacks and a reorganization to prioritize its "core" operations, resulting in sister channel HLN being brought under the auspices of Investigation Discovery and abandoning its remaining original live news programming.

[94][95] 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 the series that were pulled from HBO Max earlier).

[96][97] 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.

[98] On February 24, WBD CEO David Zaslav confirmed the change of plans during an earnings call, saying that Discovery+ has "profitable subscribers that are very happy with the product offering".

[103] Amid concerns over the future of TCM, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Paul Thomas Anderson met with Zaslav, and on June 23 it 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".

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.

[116][117][118] 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.

[123] 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.

The agreement also included live game rights for select international territories in Nordic Europe and South America.

These businesses will be reorganized into two units: "Streaming & Studios"—which will include Warner Bros., HBO, and Max, and "Global Linear Networks".