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WarnerMedia, Discovery Complete Merger, Become Warner Bros Discovery

The AT&T logo is pictures on a building in Los Angeles, California, U.S. August 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake//File Photo
The AT&T logo is pictures on a building in Los Angeles, California, U.S. August 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake//File Photo
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WarnerMedia, Discovery Complete Merger, Become Warner Bros Discovery

The AT&T logo is pictures on a building in Los Angeles, California, U.S. August 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake//File Photo
The AT&T logo is pictures on a building in Los Angeles, California, U.S. August 10, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake//File Photo

AT&T Inc's WarnerMedia unit and Discovery Inc have completed their merger, the companies said on Friday.

The combined company, Warner Bros Discovery Inc, will start trading on the Nasdaq on Monday under the ticker symbol "WBD".

In May last year, the companies set out to merge and become a standalone media business, with AT&T aiming to focus more on its wireless ambitions and Discovery looking to beef up its content library.

"With the close of this transaction, we expect to invest at record levels in our growth areas of 5G and fiber, where we have strong momentum," AT&T Chief Executive Officer John Stankey said in a statement.

Warner Bros Discovery's portfolio includes Discovery Channel, Warner Bros. Entertainment, CNN, HBO, Cartoon Network; streaming services Discovery+ and HBO Max; and franchises like "Batman" and "Harry Potter".

A top priority for David Zaslav, the long-time Discovery veteran leading the combined entity, is to make streaming video as profitable as the old TV business, analysts said.

Discovery On Thursday announced the executive team to lead the new Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), leaning heavily on a trusted group of lieutenants, many of whom have worked with its chief executive since his days at NBC.

Nine high-level WarnerMedia executives, including Chief Executive Jason Kilar and Studios and Network chief Ann Sarnoff, announced their exits ahead of the formation of the combined company earlier this week.

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Entertainment

Netflix Boss Promises Warner Bros Films Would Still be Seen in Cinemas

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos poses during the avant-premiere of TV serie "Emily in Paris" season 5, at the Grand Rex, in Paris on December 15, 2025. (Photo by Blanca CRUZ / AFP)
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos poses during the avant-premiere of TV serie "Emily in Paris" season 5, at the Grand Rex, in Paris on December 15, 2025. (Photo by Blanca CRUZ / AFP)
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Netflix Boss Promises Warner Bros Films Would Still be Seen in Cinemas

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos poses during the avant-premiere of TV serie "Emily in Paris" season 5, at the Grand Rex, in Paris on December 15, 2025. (Photo by Blanca CRUZ / AFP)
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos poses during the avant-premiere of TV serie "Emily in Paris" season 5, at the Grand Rex, in Paris on December 15, 2025. (Photo by Blanca CRUZ / AFP)

Netflix will continue to distribute Warner Bros. films in cinemas if its takeover bid for the storied studio is successful, the streaming service's chief executive Ted Sarandos said in an interview Tuesday in Paris.

"We're going to continue to operate Warner Bros. studios independently and release the movies traditionally in cinema," he said during an event in the French capital, while admitting his past comments on theatrical distribution "now confuse people".

Previously, Sarandos had suggested that the cinema experience was outdated, surpassed by the convenience of streaming.

The Netflix boss was being interviewed by Maxime Saada, head of France's Canal+ media group, in a Paris theater that was presenting Canal+'s projects for 2026, Agence France Presse reported.

Netflix only began to produce its own programs a dozen years ago, Sarandos explained, so "our library only extends back a decade, where Warner Bros. extends back 100 years. So they know a lot about things that we haven't ever done, like theatrical distribution."

In early December, Netflix announced that it had reached an agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to acquire most of the group for $83 billion.

However, doubts remain about whether the deal will be approved by regulators, and in the meantime television and film group Paramount Skydance has made a counter-offer valued at $108.4 billion.

If Netflix's bid is successful, it would acquire HBO Max, one of the world's largest media platforms, and it would find itself at the head of a movie catalogue including the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings sagas, as well as the superheroes of DC Studios.

Entertainment

Donna Summer Is Posthumously Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Donna Summer. (Reuters)
Donna Summer. (Reuters)
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Donna Summer Is Posthumously Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Donna Summer. (Reuters)
Donna Summer. (Reuters)

There are giants, and then there is Donna Summer. The Queen of Disco and then some, known for such timeless tunes as “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,” “Bad Girls,” “Dim All the Lights,” “On the Radio” and “She Works Hard for the Money,” has been posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the hall said.

Summer, who died in 2012 at age 63, was welcomed into the Songwriters Hall on Monday at a ceremony at The Butterfly Room at Cecconi’s in Los Angeles. It was led by Academy Award-winning songwriter Paul Williams. Summer's husband, Bruce Sudano and their daughters Brooklyn Sudano and Amanda Sudano Ramirez were in attendance.

“Donna Summer is not only one of the defining voices and performers of the 20th century; she is one of the great songwriters of all time who changed the course of music,” said Williams in a statement. “She wrote timeless and transcendent songs that continue to captivate our souls and imaginations, inspiring the world to dance and, above all, feel love.”

Summer's smooth blend of R&B, soul, pop, funk, rock, disco and electronica launched numerous chart-topping hits in the ‘70s and ’80s as well as three multiplatinum albums. She won five Grammys. She was unstoppable — both as a performer and a writer.

“It’s important to me because I know how important it was for Donna,” said Sudano in a press release. “The backstory is, with all the accolades that she received over her career, being respected as a songwriter was always the thing that she felt was overlooked. So, for her to be accepted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame I know that she’s very happy ... somewhere.”

The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.

The annual Songwriters Hall of Fame gala does not usually include posthumous inductions; those are reserved for separate events.

Songwriter Pete Bellotte — known for his work with Summer on “Hot Stuff,” “I Feel Love” and “Love To Love You Baby” — is a current nominee for the 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame class. “Love To Love You Baby” was co-written with Summer and producer Giorgio Moroder. One of Summer's best-known hits, the song has been sampled many times, including in tracks by Beyoncé, LL Cool J and Timbaland.

The 2026 inductees will be announced in early 2026.

Entertainment

Eurovision Host Says It Will Not Drown Out Any Boos During Israel’s Performance

A screen shows the logo of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2026 during a press conference of Austrian national public broadcaster ORF in Vienna on December 16, 2025. (AFP)
A screen shows the logo of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2026 during a press conference of Austrian national public broadcaster ORF in Vienna on December 16, 2025. (AFP)
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Eurovision Host Says It Will Not Drown Out Any Boos During Israel’s Performance

A screen shows the logo of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2026 during a press conference of Austrian national public broadcaster ORF in Vienna on December 16, 2025. (AFP)
A screen shows the logo of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2026 during a press conference of Austrian national public broadcaster ORF in Vienna on December 16, 2025. (AFP)

The host broadcaster of the next Eurovision Song Contest, Austria's ORF, will not ban the Palestinian flag from the audience or drown out booing during Israel's performance as has happened at previous shows, organizers said on Tuesday.

The 70th edition of the contest in May will have just 35 entries, the smallest number of participants since 2003, after five national broadcasters including those of Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands said they would boycott the show in protest at Israel's participation.

What is usually a celebration of national diversity, pop music and high camp has become embroiled in diplomatic strife, with those boycotting saying it would be unconscionable to take part given the number of civilians killed in Gaza as part of Israel's retaliation to the October 7 attack by Hamas in 2023.

"We will allow all official flags that exist in the world, if they comply with the law and are in a certain form - size, security risks, etc," the show's executive producer, Michael Kroen, told a news conference organized by ORF.

" ... we will not sugarcoat anything or avoid showing what is happening, because our task is to show things as they are," Kroen said.

AUSTRIA SUPPORTED ISRAEL PARTICIPATING

The broadcaster will not drown out the sound of any booing from the crowd, as happened this year during Israel's performance, ORF's director of programming Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz said.

"We won't play artificial applause over it at any point," she said.

Israel's 2025 entrant, Yuval Raphael, was at the Nova music festival that was a target of the Hamas-led attack. The CEO of Israeli broadcaster KAN had likened the efforts to exclude Israel in 2026 to a form of "cultural boycott".

ORF and the Austrian government were among the biggest supporters of Israel participating over the objections of countries including Iceland and Slovenia, which will also boycott the next contest in protest. ORF Director General Roland Weissmann visited Israel in November to show his support.

This year's show drew around 166 million viewers, according to the European Broadcasting Union, more than the roughly 128 million who Nielsen estimates watched the Super Bowl.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seized 251 hostages in an attack on southern Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 70,700 Palestinians, most of them civilians, health officials in Gaza say.