{"id":845615,"date":"2026-08-06T13:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845615\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T13:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:02:11","slug":"warner-bros-discovery-q2-profit-slumps-on-nba-ads-write-downs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845615\/","title":{"rendered":"Warner Bros. Discovery Q2 Profit Slumps on NBA Ads, Write-Downs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWarner Bros. Discovery<\/a> has a great story to tell about its streaming business \u2013if only its other operations didn\u2019t get in the way.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe parent of HBO, TNT and the Warner Bros. movie studio said net income in the second quarter fell significantly as growth at its new-tech streaming operations was more than offset by the continued erosion of its cable-TV networks and a weaker studio lineup than in the year-earlier period. TV ad sales fell 22% due to Warner\u2019s loss of NBA games after the 2025 season, and TV distribution revenue fell due in part to a 10% decrease in the number of subscribers to its networks.<\/p>\n

\n\tTotal revenue fell 11% to $8.7 billion, compared with $9.8 billion in the year-earlier period. Net income attributable to the company fell to $149 million from $1.58 billion, partially the result of $1.1 billion of pre-tax acquisition-related amortization of intangibles, content fair value step-up, and restructuring expenses.<\/p>\n

\n\tWarner is in a difficult spot. It needs to continue to manage its operations even though it has agreed to be purchased by Paramount Skydance. While the proposed deal has won approval in multiple countries, it has been held up in federal court by a coalition of 12 attorneys general who are making the case that the combination of the two media companies would create an entity that would be in violation of antitrust law in areas such as movie production and the operation of cable television properties. The case will not come to trial until next year.<\/p>\n

\n\tEven so, Warner had some bright spots to show off. Streaming revenue rose above $3 billion for the first time, thanks to an increase of 10% that was aided by expansion of HBO Max in various markets around the globe. In a move that counters conditions at its TV networks, Warner said advertising and distribution revenue increased noticeably at its streaming venues, with distribution fees up 11% and ad revenue up 8%.<\/p>\n

\n\tRevenue at the company\u2019s studios was off 39% to $2.3 billion thanks to comparisons with the year-earlier period, which benefitted from the release of films such as \u201cA Minecraft Movie,\u201d \u201cSinners,\u201d and \u201cFinal Destination Bloodlines.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warner Bros. Discovery has a great story to tell about its streaming business \u2013if only its other operations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,42677,15359,590,85,6142],"class_list":["post-845615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-david-zaslav","tag-media-earnings","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}