AT&T combining HBO, CNN, and more with Discovery to create 'formidable' rival to Netflix, Disney

Make way for WarnerDiscovery.

AT&T on Monday announced it has reached a deal to spin off WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery, creating a new standalone company, CNN reports. Discovery CEO David Zaslav will lead the new company, which The New York Times writes would be a "media juggernaut" that would be bigger than both Netflix and NBCUniversal, though not quite as big as Disney.

The $43 billion deal, CNN writes, would "combine two treasure troves of content," including the streaming services HBO Max and Discovery+. WarnerMedia owns HBO, CNN, TNT, TBS, and Warner Bros. among other assets, while Discovery's brands include HGTV, Food Network, and Animal Planet.

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The combined company "would be a formidable competitor to" Netflix and Disney as the streaming wars continue to heat up, Bloomberg writes. The company is planning to spend about $20 billion on content, more than Netflix, Axios reports.

This announcement was also a "significant about-face" on the part of AT&T, which acquired Time Warner for over $85 billion in 2018, the Times writes.

AT&T CEO John Stankey said Monday the move "positions the new company to be one of the leading global direct-to-consumer streaming platforms." The deal is subject to regulatory approval, but the companies say they expect it to close in the middle of 2022.