Trish Regan analyzes Warner Bros. Discovery's potential sale, highlighting CNN as a $40 billion debt burden with costly talent like Anderson Cooper that may be spun off or folded into deals with Skydance Paramount or Netflix. While CEO David Zaslav seeks multiple bidders after rebuffing Paramount, Regan speculates legacy cable news is dying as streaming assets drive value, noting Larry Ellison's Trump support could aid antitrust clearance. She also critiques Disney's reboot fatigue due to DEI focus and touches on a Ninth Circuit ruling allowing National Guard deployment in Portland, suggesting broader implications for major US cities. Ultimately, the segment argues that without creative revitalization, traditional media faces obsolescence against digital competitors. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, Qwen/Qwen3-ForcedAligner-0.6B, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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CNN's Final Days00:02:56
We knew this one was just a matter of time, was it not, ladies and gentlemen?
What I've been saying over and over again, that anchor guy, the one that wrote that book on how, oh, the media had this big cover-up of Joe Biden.
I told you he's been looking for a job at Fox forever.
Like he saw the handwriting on the wall just like I did, just like we collectively together did.
CNN is going bye-bye in one shape or form.
We got lots of news on this Discovery Warner Brothers deal that kind of leaves CNN and all the cable assets out in the cold because you see that whole medium is done and over.
Finito, as they would say.
I like to throw a little Italian in there, all that opera training, you know.
Anyway, CNN.
It's up for sale big time.
Lots of news going on here.
I don't know if this company is going to make it.
I really don't know because nobody wants CNN.
You see, when they're actually trying to sell off Warner Brothers Discovery, then they're stuck with this little dangling CNN thing and they're like, what do we do with that one?
Nobody wants it, understandably, because it is like a noose around any company's neck.
The chances are it either gets folded into maybe a deal with CBS Paramount.
We're going to get into that.
Or it gets spun off altogether, kind of like MSNBC is, right?
Comcast.
They are spinning off MSNBC.
And I would just say all of these guys are looking at the slow disintegration of their news networks.
So who are the top talents?
if we can call them talent, that are going to be bye-bye.
There's going to be quite a few of them there.
We have lots of news on that.
Plus, oh, we can talk about the court that is ruling to allow for National Guard in Portland.
This is making the Dems absolutely apoplectic.
I mean, they cannot believe that two of the three justices there on the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court said, yep, you can go on and bring the National Guard into Portland.
It may go to the Supreme Court, but so be it, ladies and gentlemen.
It goes to the Supreme Court, and then guess what?
He's going to be able to go into San Francisco.
He's going to be able to continue going into Chicago, into D.C., anywhere he wants to go.
New York City, whoo.
Kathy Holkle won't like that.
Letitia James won't like that.
And oh, Lord knows, the new about to be mayor, Comrade Mamdami won't like it.
Welcome to the program, everyone.
I am Trish Regan.
This is Trish Regan Show.
Thank you for being here.
Make sure you subscribe, share, like.
I'm watching your comments in real time.
Great to have you all here.
But we begin, ladies and gentlemen, on none other than CNN.
CNN, which has had a rather challenging existence for the last, oh, I don't know, you want to call it 10 years, 15 years, maybe even 20 years.
It is now kind of scratching the bottom of the barrel.
And if you're Warner Brothers Discovery, you don't really know what to do with it, right?
Because you've got this really expensive thing that probably is not getting any more money from USAID, at least for now.
Streaming Business Synergies00:08:52
And you can't make it profitable.
It's extremely expensive to have with all of these bureaus all over the world.
You've got high-priced talent that probably shouldn't be making what they're making.
Anderson Cooper, I'm looking at you.
And as a result, you're not able to sort of recoup your investment.
The company overall, by the way, I should point out that the parent company, it's not like they're any walk in the park because Warner Brothers, Time Warner, we almost had a Letitia story there.
We almost did.
We'll have to get to her later.
But if you look at Warner Brothers Discovery, what you actually see there is a company that's riddled with something like $40 billion in debt.
I believe they've been able to get some of that down in recent years.
And they're relying on things like their Harry Potter franchise.
But they really don't have a lot of innovation within that company.
And so that's costing it.
That's costing the company a lot in the way of not being able to really come up with any innovation that makes people want to go and watch their product or to, you know, really be able to dominate that streaming space.
So what's going on?
Maybe there will be a suitor.
They're claiming that they've got more suitors.
This is the big article in Hollywood Reporter today.
Warner Brothers Discovery is for sale after all.
There had been some talk.
Oh, you know, maybe they weren't going to do this because remember they said we're going to just spin off.
CNN, you know, kind of like MSNBC.
They were going to separate things into like the streaming side of the business and then the cable side of the business.
And obviously one side of the business was going to have the value.
That would be the streaming.
And then the other side of the business, well, they could let it, you know, die slowly on the vine.
But by separating the streaming side, they hoped that they would be able to capture more value for shareholders.
Well, now all of a sudden they're insisting that they've got more suitors than we originally thought.
You see, one of the suitors that was talking about at great length and is still being talked about is none other than Skydance Paramount.
Okay, so remember the deal right, Skydance Paramount, this is Larry Ellison's kid, right?
He came in and he bought Paramount, which owns CBS and CBS NEWS, and so that was.
You know, it's not going over so well at CBS.
They're like flipping out because Barry Weiss, who has a conservative background and is like actually willing to call balls and strikes.
They're like, wait a second, she's running our newsroom now, so we wish her luck.
That's not going to be a fun newsroom to run, I'm sure, But now they're looking at maybe acquiring CNN too.
And I'm like, gosh, are you guys just gluttons for punishment?
Like, why would you want to do that?
Seriously, like, why, why, why?
But I think they're actually, if they acquire the whole thing, the reason they're really going in there is because, again, they want the streaming assets and they want to keep them away from, say, Netflix or other competitors.
So this is the headline with Warner Brothers Discovery.
You see David Zaslov, he is the CEO, talented media executive.
It's just that, you know, you got to keep up with the times.
You got to keep up with the times and the times, they are a change-in.
As Bob Dylan said, okay, they're changing because, hey, we're over here on YouTube.
It's pretty, pretty damn fun, may I just say, right?
You know, no scripts, no middle management, management, just you and me.
I watch your comments in real time.
Whole different ballgame.
So how does that affect the news industry?
We know in terms of the entertainment industry, the entertainment industry has been really shaken up.
I mean, when was the last time you saw a good movie anywhere?
I can't actually name one.
Like I'm not seeing any good movies lately.
And you know what?
I'm not even going to the movies lately.
So the entertainment, divisions.
They've all been suffering.
They can't come up with anything.
They have no creativity.
I blame that all on DEI, by the way, because they were so obsessed with DEI in all of the halls of these great entertainment giants.
I'm thinking Disney, for example, that they don't have a creative bone left in their body.
They just had a formula of let's put on someone who represents a minority and reinvent an already popular movie.
Well, that doesn't fly.
And so they really haven't had any big successes.
And then you look at, okay, Warner Brothers Discovery, they get the Harry Potter thing.
But how much can you keep relying on that?
I'm looking at Peace in My Mind.
I see your comments, Peace in My Mind.
I always love seeing you here.
Thank you for all your loyalty and everything you do.
So yes, you guys better be good today.
I do watch them.
Sometimes it's a little distracting, so be careful.
Anyway, Warner Brothers, Discovery is for sale.
And what are they going to do with CNN?
How can they?
Because nobody wants it.
Maybe, maybe.
And the shares are up today, by the way.
Everybody's like, whew, finally, you know, somebody else is going to take on this liability.
We can get out as shareholders.
I think that they're going to have to figure out the cable component of this.
Again, what is of value?
It's the streaming assets.
One other thing I should point out they have said that they're going to move forward no matter what with their spin off if, in fact, this thing doesn't happen.
So they've allegedly got a few suitors in the room.
One is, as I mentioned, Paramount Skydance.
That would be David Ellison.
They've also got allegedly, reportedly, Comcast.
I'm like, Comcast, again, what are you thinking?
You're trying to get rid of MSNBC.
But I think Comcast would just be there.
For the streaming assets.
They're not as interested in the cable properties, naturally.
And then you have Netflix that's possibly interested.
Netflix is trying to really make a run at things.
And you've got HBO, you've got Discovery.
So there may be some synergies there.
But so, and again, this is an article, this is a quoting actually AP, which is saying the exact same thing I am that the Skydance owned Paramount, again, remember that's CBS, okay, is looking to make a bid.
And the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Paramount had approached Warner about a potential majority cash offer share in late September, and that Warner Brothers chief executive David Zaslov has rebuffed those first overtures.
Of course, David's out of a job, by the way, if this deal happens.
I mean, he should be happy because share prices should go up, et cetera.
So he's like, looking.
Now he's like, okay, let's do an auction.
I need a beauty pageant here.
Okay, who else?
Who?
Step one, step up one, step all, you know, whatever they say.
They are looking for more suitors.
The problem for this company, again, is that, and they were smart to try and do these two different things, just like Comcast is doing with MSNBC, getting rid of the Rachel Maddows of the world, letting them go way over there and being a totally different entity, because you want to preserve what you can from the streaming side.
The cable stuff is a dead business.
That is the legacy media business that you're trying to get rid of.
So again, David Zazloff, not necessarily thrilled about this, but looking at all things.
He has a duty, of course, to shareholders to look at all offers and get the most.
attractive offer.
This is quoting Business Insider.
They're saying the primary theory is that the very biggest companies, only the very biggest companies are going to survive in the streaming error.
And this is why a Paramount Skydance, again, Paramount being CBS, Skydance, WBD, Warner Brothers, Discovery mashup would be a possible challenger to the likes of Netflix or Disney or Amazon.
I am only going to say that, you know, like Netflix hasn't been so hot lately.
Disney has not been so hot lately.
I think the real game of town, frankly, is YouTube.
But um, you know, they all want their chance and shot at the table.
So basically, bottom line, you're looking at um, a tough environment for all of these companies and they are all trying to compete and they are all challenged.
And then you're going to have, for example, the antitrust issues.
What happens there like, for example, if Comcast says hey, we want to go ahead and acquire this, then does it become like, well, wait a second, you have NBC, do you really need all these other networks in addition to that?
This is one thing that may give Paramount Skydance that upper hand, because the Ellisons have a relationship.
You know, daddy Larry Ellison has been a long time Donald Trump supporter.
So maybe they can cut through some of that red tape.
I don't know.
I'd like to think that that doesn't really matter, but it's one of the things that they're trying to sell to the investing public.
As I mentioned, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, spinoffs, those are things that Warner Brothers Media and Discovery have really been trying to push and they've restructured their business to try and deal with some of this heavy debt.
But then you've got, look at the bottom of this paragraph.
I think this is.
I think this is the Hollywood Reporter that wrote this.
Though the company has made some progress in debt reduction, investors have remained skeptical in part because of the company's cable network portfolio as consumers move towards Streaming.