AT&T is getting out of the media business

Unsurprisingly, AT&T has figured out that it has no business being in the content business. It plans to merge its WarnerMedia business with Discovery. David Zaslav will head the newco.

When AT&T acquired Time Warner in 2018, several senior executives on the Time Warner side left the company. The reorganization put a bunch of telephone company execs in charge; once that rubicon was crossed, today’s announcement was only going to be a matter of time.

Studios are 100 percent about relationships. The brain drain doomed AT&T’s plans from the start. Add in AT&T’s “looks good on paper” content and streaming strategy, and that’s how you get to today.

Discovery is one of the best-run content companies in the world. This merger not only looks good on paper — it’s going to be great IRL.

Author’s note: This is not a sponsored post. I am the author of this article and it expresses my own opinions. I am not, nor is my company, receiving compensation for it.

About Shelly Palmer

Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.

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