The soft deadline to submit bids for Warner Bros. Discovery came and went last Friday, with Paramount, Comcast, and Netflix all submitting offers to buy the storied media company. Now, Warner Bros. is asking its bidders to up the ante.
According to a Bloomberg report, Warner Bros. Discovery has asked its three interested buyers to submit second offers by Dec. 1, at which point the company “may enter a period of exclusive negotiations” with its favored bidder. Paramount, the parent company of CBS which recently merged with David Ellison’s Skydance, remains the only company interested in buying the whole of Warner Bros. Comcast and Netflix are only interested in the streaming and studios assets, which do not include the TNT Sports cable channels.
A fourth possibility also remains on the table. Warner Bros. Discovery could continue on with its planned April 2026 split that would see a separation of the streaming and studios assets from the legacy cable assets.
Whatever path the company’s board chooses will have major implications on the future of TNT Sports. Should the company accept an offer from Paramount, combining TNT Sports with CBS Sports, the newly merged entity would control broadcast rights to an NFL package, the entirety of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the College Football Playoff games sublicensed to TNT, every UFC card, regular season college football and basketball, golf rights including the Masters and half of the PGA Tour schedule, significant postseason MLB and NHL games, a package of NASCAR races, the French Open, and more.
A sale to either Comcast or Netflix would leave the future of TNT Sports very much up in the air, as neither company has expressed any interest in purchasing the asset.
Warner Bros. Discovery has self-imposed a Christmas deadline to settle on a path forward.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.