Netflix quietly drops Warner Bros. Discovery cable channels in sale

The streaming wars just ended. Great cracks have opened up in the Earth's crust, and your favorite cable content is about to be swallowed up, disappearing from your HBO subscription.

Dramatic? Maybe, but subscribers will find their Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) favorites elsewhere once (or "if," as The New York Times notes) this week's gargantuan, $72 billion sale of Warner Bros. to Netflix (NFLX) goes through.

According to Netflix's official press release on Dec. 5, Warner Bros. will separate its Discovery and other traditional cable assets into a new, publicly traded company called Discovery Global. The separation is set to complete in Q3 2026, prior to the closing of the Warner Bros. Streaming acquisition, per NPR's reporting.

Here's what networks will split off from Netflix and Warner Bros. to comprise Discovery Global.

Discovery Global will focus on entertainment, sports, and news brands

"The newly separated publicly traded company holding the Global Networks division, Discovery Global, will include premier entertainment, sports, and news television brands around the world," Netflix's Dec. 5 press release stated.

"[Discovery Global will include] CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., and Discovery, free-to-air channels across Europe, and digital products such as Discovery+ and Bleacher Report."

I'll trawl through the nitty-gritty of which specific channels (and other properties) are making the jump over, and look at how Discovery Global will look to compete in a packed, cutthroat industry.

Cable channels leaving HBO and Netflix

In his infinite wisdom, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav had already been planning a split of WBD into "Global Networks" (which will now become Discovery Global), and "Streaming & Studios" (which will be absorbed by Netflix) since June 9, per a Warner Bros. press release.

With this deal spurning the bidders who would have potentially kept Warner Bros. Discovery together (Paramount [PSKY], NBCU/Comcast [CMCSA]), those plans will now actually come to fruition.

The Discovery Global separation will mirror Zaz's WBD Global Networks/WBD Streaming & Studios bifurcation plans. Here's what content was planned to go where (complete with colorful logos for our corporate-pilled minds).

As you can see, Global Networks was set to include all of Warner Bros. Discovery's more traditional cable assets (read: non-streaming/OTA).

Discovery Global will follow this blueprint. These assets include cable networks Discovery, HGTV, CNN, tvn, TNT, TLC, Cartoon Network, Food Network, TBS, DMAX, Adult Swim, and on-demand/streamer Discovery+.

However, a closer look at the future Discovery Global asset chart helped me realize an even more valuable truth about the split's division of assets.

Discovery Global will take Warner Bros. sports properties

In addition to its non-sports cable networks, Discovery Global will also take away all of Warner Bros. Discovery's sports assets. This, I believe, is what is being missed in this split, and its impact will be considerable in a crowded, competitive sports broadcasting market.

Here's what Discovery Global might look like, according to Warner Bros. Discovery's June 2025 press release.

To review, Discovery Global's sports assets will include rights to broadcast select games from: March Madness, NASCAR, the MLB, the NHL, and the College Football Playoff (CFP), as well as the Olympics, UEFA Champions League, and the Premier League.

Discovery Global will compete with NBC in live sports

Why do I think this is such a game-changer? Well, sports, above all else, are the biggest boon to ratings and subscribers in today's on-demand content landscape.

If you have sports rights, you have live viewers. NBCU/Comcast certainly buys into this belief as of its Q3 Earnings Report, and it has accordingly made sports the crux of its entire strategy going forward.

“We’re building momentum across NBC and Peacock as we head into one of the most exciting stretches of live sports in our history,” Comcast CEO Dave Roberts stated, as reported by Hollywood Reporter.

“And in February, we’ll have the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, and NBA All-Star Weekend, followed by the World Cup on Telemundo in June,” added Comcast President Michael Cavanagh.

This strategic pivot comes on the back of NBC's eye-watering $27 billion/11-year takeover of NBA broadcast rights from TNT earlier this fall.

TNT, of course, is — or was — a Warner Bros. Discovery network. The return of the NBA to NBC shifted its weekly schedule, giving NBCU properties (NBC, ABC, Peacock) a leg up when it came to exclusive national broadcast streaming.

Take a look at the schedule new below.

Earlier this year, NBC partnered with Amazon (AMZN), Disney (DIS), to edge out TNT and Warner Bros. in a joint deal for a brain-destroying (trying for something more extreme than eye-watering) $76 billion/11-year sum, as reported by The Athletic.

That deal came into action this October with the start of the NBA season. From where we stand now, that deal appears to have been the initial domino leading to the Warner Bros. to Netflix sale.

I hate to map it out this way, but my reporting has tracked the path throughout.

First, the NBA deal went through. Then, Paramount started discreetly sending offers to Warner Bros. Next, the bidding broke wide open with Comcast/NBCU, Disney, and the eventual winner in Netflix formally entering the fray.

Amid this, Comcast/NBCU pounded its chest about its sports assets in its Q3 earnings report, which got the others thinking. Then Comcast/NBCU poached Taylor Sheridan from Paramount+ for $1 billion over a decade-plus, which got the others worrying.

Take a breath here before the final stretch.

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Next, the Sheridan-poaching got Paramount desperate, leading to White House pressure and Saudi money entering the chat.

At this point, Disney bowed out, based on the belief that its strong 2026 movie slate will be enough to keep it in the game going forward.

Then "Wicked: For Good" rocked the domestic box office the weekend before Thanksgiving, boosting Comcast/NBCU's morale. This was quickly followed by Disney's Zootopia knocking the Chinese box office out of the park (sorry, mixed metaphor - meaning they did extremely well there).

Then — exhale — this deal came through late by the morning of Dec. 5 as we all finally digested our turkey.

Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix are set to enter exclusive negotiations for a $82.7 billion (pre-debt), $72 billion-dollar acquisition of Warner Bros. Streaming & Studios.

And the world will never be the same (unless President Doland Trump blocks it, Paramount goes hostile after its superior bid was rejected, antitrust/anti-monopoly regulators jump in, or any other powerful forces step in to stop it).

Regardless of the big-picture outcome, the Warner Bros. Discovery "Global Network" and "Streaming & Studios" split is finally beyond being just smoke.

It's now a full fire with corporate structuring, both internal and external. That will be hard to pass up, no matter how the Warner Bros. acquisition saga ends.

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