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State of the Screens

John Stankey’s challenge: Making AT&T’s $100 billion bet on Time Warner pay off

By June 13, 2019No Comments

The big bet: AT&T is re-aligning WarnerMedia around the future of media consumption with a goal of 70M subscribers for its new streaming service.

The challenge: Getting Warner Brothers, Turner and HBO to work together.

Quote from John Stankey — CEO @ WarnerMedia:
“Media has moved into an environment where scale is essential… Somebody in the legacy media space will build a platform of scale and get to 70 million to 80 million subscribers. We’d like it to be us. If you keep the cultures separate, you’ll never get the benefits the three together bring.”

Projected pricing for WarnerMedia streaming service vs. current price for HBO Now:
1)
WarnerMedia — $15–18
2)
HBO Now — $15

Video: WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey on HBO, CNN, and company growth

More #1: AT&T Has Become a New Kind of Media Giant

More #2: AT&T Eyes $16- to $17-a-Month Streaming Service in Strategy Shift

More #3: AT&T’s Streaming Ambitions Hit a Snag: The Cost of HBO

Michael Beach

Michael Beach is the Chief Executive Officer of Cross Screen Media, a media analytics and software company that enables marketers to plan, activate, and measure CTV and linear TV at the local level. Michael is also the founder and editor of State of the Screens, a weekly newsletter focused on video advertising that is a must-read for thought leaders in the advertising industry. He has appeared in such publications as PBS Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Axios, CNBC and Bloomberg, and on NPR’s Planet Money podcast.