Latest in Discovery Communications

JB Perrette, Discovery’s president and CEO of streaming and international, acknowledged the company’s struggles in the sports arena even as it has gained scale in recent years. “We’ve learned a lot over the last eight years, and we’ve made a lot of mistakes, frankly, in doing it in the sports space in particular,” the…

Magnolia Network, Discovery's joint venture with Chip and Joanna Gaines, will light up as a linear pay-TV network on January 5, 2022. The channel’s debut — a rare event in an era of streaming fixation and a shrinking pay-TV bundle, will come in the form of a rebrand of Discovery’s existing DIY Network. The first show…

Advertising rebounded strongly in the second quarter, enabling Discovery Communications to easily beat Wall Street’s estimates. Total revenue climbed 21% over the prior-year quarter, reaching $3.06 billion, as earnings per share hit $1.01. Analysts had expected revenue of $2.97 billion and earnings of 85 cents. Ad…

UPDATED with executive comments. Discovery executives gave an updated snapshot of streaming flagship Discovery+, saying it is ahead of internal targets for viewing time, average revenue per user and churn. The company reported having 15 million total streaming subscribers, with most paying for Discovery+, which…

Catherine Frymark is capping a 20-year executive run at Discovery, shifting to Mattel as head global communications. In her new role as EVP of communications, Frymark will oversee external and internal corporate communications globally as well as the company's philanthropic efforts. She will join Mattel in December…

UPDATE, FRIDAY NIGHT: US District Court Judge Stephen Wilson today denied a temporary restraining order request against Discovery Communications and Unrealistic Productions over a forthcoming documentary. The judge cited the right to free speech and laws against prior restraint in his ruling. That means the Discovery…

Discovery Inc. saw second quarter U.S. ad revenue dip 14% on lower demand stemming from COVID-19 but its portfolio of networks gained share in primetime with TLC delivering its best quarter ever, the company said Wednesday. The dip in the U.S. was also due in part to secular declines in the pay TV ecosystem and lower…

A number of global launches of HGTV and Food Network helped bolster Discovery Communications' full-year and Q4 financial results. The factual giant saw total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2019 grow by 2% to $2.87B, while total revenues across the year grew by 6% to $11.1B. Net income in the last quarter increased…

Discovery Communications laid off an unspecified number of employees at the Scripps Networks Interactive offices in Knoxville, TN. A company spokesperson confirmed the job cuts, but refused to say how many people would lose their jobs. AdAge reported in mid-July that Discovery was reorganizing its ad sales team…

Discovery Communications touted the strength of its bulked-up cable portfolio in the company’s first upfront event since closing its $14.6 billion acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive. CEO David Zaslav called the presentation at New York’s Alice Tully Hall “our coming-out party.” After a short video greeting by…

For Kathleen Finch, March has always been hectic, the annual time for Scripps Networks Interactive to set off on its annual upfront road show. Rather than one big blowout in New York, the Knoxville, Tenn.-based owner of Food Network, HGTV and Travel Channel would stop in several cities to make pitches to ad buyers…

In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Discovery CEO David Zaslav underscored the company’s commitment to unscripted TV programming, which he described as more profitable and viable than the “commodified” scripted realm. Scripted programming, a sector saturated with more than 500 shows, is “a high-stakes game…