Discovery’s $11.9 billion acquisition of Scripps Networks is now complete, and the company has rebranded itself as Discovery, Inc.
Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg spoke with chief exec David Zaslav on what this deal means for the company's position in entertainment.
Unlike Netflix, Amazon, and HBO, he said Discovery, Inc. will steer clear of scripted original content because that segment of the industry is increasingly crowded, competitive, and expensive.
“That marketplace is tightening. There’s more people bidding for the movies, more people bidding for series. The cost of content is going up,” said Zaslav.
Instead, Discovery, Inc. will focus on its strength: unscripted content that works better on all kinds of devices and around the world.
"We own all of our content globally," Zaslav told Cheddar. "But we'll resell that IP onto different devices. We might be selling it to Facebook, to Amazon, to Apple, to the mobile players."
That gives the company the flexibility to offer “skinny” direct-to-consumer packages.
“We’re the only company that could do it,” he said. “We’re also trying to really drive the marketplace ... We think the skinny bundle could really help the ecosystem here in the U.S.”
Through its acquisition, Discovery, Inc. now has 19 cable networks and reaches 20 percent of women watching prime time pay-TV, something that appeals to advertisers.
“Not only can we do one ad across all those channels...we have viewers that are passionate and engaged with our brands,” said Zaslav.
He added that some of the company’s channels bring in the “longest length of view for any cable network for women on TV.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/discovery-inc-ceo-david-zaslav-on-closing-scripps-deal).
UBS says it’s bringing back former CEO Sergio Ermotti to lead the Swiss bank as it moves forward with a government-orchestrated plan to take over struggling rival Credit Suisse.
San Francisco-based technology startup Illumix just closed a $18 million Series A round of funding, and in a rare move for the Shark Tank star, Mark Cuban contributed.
Austin Graff, founder and CIO of Opal Capital in Austin, Texas, offers his take on why stocks opened higher Wednesday, saying investors appear tentatively optimistic about regulatory actions being taken around struggling banks, even as they remain worried about the long-term consequences of federal action on the sector. "
Credit Suisse violated a plea agreement with U.S. authorities by failing to report secret offshore accounts that wealthy Americans used to avoid paying taxes, U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday.
Stocks are rising Wednesday as Wall Street shakes off a bit more of the fear that dominated it earlier this month.
Honda is recalling more than 330,000 vehicles because heating pads behind both side-view mirrors may not be bonded properly, which could lead to the mirror glass falling out and increase the risk of a crash.
Lyft co-founder Logan Green is stepping down as CEO with David Risher, a former Amazon and Microsoft executive, set to take his place.
PepsiCo just unveiled a new nostalgic logo, and it might look familiar to long-time fans of the bubbly beverage. The new logo is a slightly modified version of the one last used in the 1990s.
According to a Reuters report, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is being deposed over the bank's relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
U.S. highway safety regulators have opened yet another investigation into problems with Teslas, this time tied to complaints that the seat belts may not hold people in a crash.
