In what was essentially a public debut on Wednesday, leaders of the new portrayed the media giant as effectively a fifth U.S. broadcast television network, with even bigger aspirations.
鈥淥ur goal is to build the most dynamic media and entertainment company in the world,鈥� David Zaslav, the company's CEO and president, told an audience of advertisers at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The 6-week-old company, created out of a corporate merger, was making its first 鈥渦pfront鈥� presentation, where television and other media companies try to convince Madison Avenue representatives to purchase ads over the next year.
鈥淚'm a little nervous,鈥� said Zaslav, name-checking celebrities like Mike Rowe and Chip and Joanna Gaines that he spotted in the audience. 鈥淚t's a big moment for us.鈥�
Yet in a forum known for bravado, Zaslav wasn't shy.
He compared the moment to when Rupert Murdoch created the Fox network to compete with ABC, CBS and NBC in the late 1980s. But he said, 鈥渨e would have to combine all four of the broadcast networks together to achieve the reach that we have alone.鈥�
With CNN and Discovery, the new company has a strong worldwide presence. For television viewers and streamers in the United States, it's a diverse and disparate collection of assets, including HGTV, the Food Network, TBS, TLC, CNN, HBO and the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services.
That made for some odd juxtapositions at the presentation, like the slide that lumped together upcoming events like Discovery's 鈥淪hark Week,鈥� Animal Planet's 鈥淧uppy Bowl鈥� and CNN's coverage of the midterm election.
Jennifer Hudson, who is starting a this fall for the company's Telepictures division, did an awkward onstage sample of it with two HGTV stars, rapper Lil Jon and designer twin Jonathan Drew.
The company tried to tie it all together by saying it will offer "live events that thrill us, the headlines that define us, the real-life stories that connect us.
鈥淭here's now one place where it all awaits us.鈥�
Along the way, the company made some programming news. Discovery+ is working on a two-part documentary looking at the roots of the between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, and another that gives a behind-the-scenes look at snowboarder Shaun White's last competition at the Winter Olympics. The service has also lured actor Robert Downey Jr. for a series where some classic cars he owns are made more eco-friendly.
HGTV next month will debut 鈥淭he Great Giveback,鈥� in which actor Melissa McCarthy and her cousin Jenna Perusich help renovate the homes of some needy families.
And HBO brought Lizzo onstage to announce the singer's participation in a documentary about the past two years of her life. She added a colorful description of all she put into the project that left a corporate executive briefly nonplussed.
The presentation to advertisers may have been new to Warner Bros. Discovery as a company, but not to most of its components 鈥� judging by a solicitation that flashed on a video screen as highlights of the Adult Swim cartoon network were unfurled.
鈥淭he future is coming,鈥� it read. 鈥淛oin us. All it costs is money.鈥�
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Bauder reported from New York, Elber from Los Angeles.
David Bauder And Lynn Elber, The Associated Press
