HBO Max Launch Could Be Undermined by Turner Linear Networks, Analyst Says

By Daniel Frankel
published

While HBO is the focus of WarnerMedia’s big upcoming streaming launch, it’s actually Turner Networks that really drives the AT&T media division’s profits, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett.

And as WarnerMedia gets ready to launch HBO Max in April, it’s facing a flurry of potentially fraught carriage renewal deals with pay TV operators for Turner.

“HBO Mad is, after all, the initiate AT&T has called the ‘future of the company’ — [but] the center of gravity of WarnerMedia is not HBO … it is Turner,” Moffett wrote in a note to investors today. He said that Turner’s cable channels, which include TNT, TBS, CNN and Cartoon Network, accounted for 53% of WarnerMedia’s earnings before interest and taxes in 2019.

“For better or for worse, WarnerMedia’s future, at least for the next four or five years, depends more on Turner than it does on HBO Max,” Moffett added. “And here’s the problem: Turner hasn’t signed a major rental since 2014/15, when they did a flurry of deals with Dish, Comcast, Charter/TWC and Cox. Assuming five-years renewal cycles, all fo those deals will now be coming up for negotiation.”

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Daniel Frankel
Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!