Shares jump 13% after restructuring statement

Follows course taken by Comcast's brand-new spin-off company

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Challenges seen in selling debt-laden linear TV networks

(New throughout, includes information, background, remarks from industry experts and experts, updates share prices)

By Dawn Chmielewski, Deborah Mary Sophia and Aditya Soni

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery on Thursday decided to separate its declining cable television TV organizations such as CNN from streaming and studio operations such as Max, preparing for a possible sale or spinoff of its TV company as more cable television customers cut the cord.

Shares of Warner leapt after the business said the new structure would be more deal friendly and it anticipated to finish the split by the middle of 2025. Warner shares closed at $12.49, up more than 15%.

Media companies are considering alternatives for fading cable television TV services, a longtime golden goose where revenues are wearing down as millions of consumers accept streaming video.

Comcast last month unveiled strategies to split most of its NBCUniversal cable networks into a new public company. The brand-new business would be well capitalized and placed to obtain other cable television networks if the market consolidates, one source told Reuters.

Bank of America research study analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich wrote that Warner Bros Discovery's cable properties are a "really rational partner" for Comcast's new spin-off company.

"We strongly think there is capacity for relatively sizable synergies if WBD's direct networks were integrated with Comcast SpinCo," composed Ehrlich, utilizing the market term for conventional television.

"Further, we think WBD's standalone streaming and studio properties would be an attractive takeover target."

Under the new structure for Warner Bros Discovery, the cable service including TNT, Animal Planet and CNN will be housed in an unit called Global Linear Networks.

Streaming platforms Max and Discovery+ will be under a different division in addition to movie studios, consisting of Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema.

The restructuring shows an inflection point for the media industry, as investments in streaming services such as Warner Bros Discovery's Max are finally paying off.

"Streaming won as a behavior," said Jonathan Miller, president of digital media investment firm Integrated Media. "Now, it's winning as a service."

Brightcove CEO Marc DeBevoise said Warner Bros Discovery's brand-new business structure will distinguish growing studio and streaming properties from lucrative however diminishing cable television business, giving a clearer investment picture and likely setting the phase for a sale or spin-off of the cable unit.

The media veteran and consultant anticipated Paramount and others may take a similar path.

CEO David Zaslav, a veteran deal-maker who led Discovery through its acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive before getting the even larger target, AT&T's WarnerMedia, is placing the company for its next chess move, wrote MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman.

"The concern is not whether more pieces will be walked around or knocked off the board, or if more consolidation will occur-- it refers who is the buyer and who is the seller," composed Fishman.

Zaslav signified that scenario throughout Warner Bros Discovery's investor call last month. He said he anticipated President-elect Donald Trump's administration would be friendlier to deal-making, opening the door to media industry consolidation.

Zaslav had actually participated in merger talks with Paramount late last year, though an offer never materialized, according to a regulative filing last month.

Others injected a note of care, noting Warner Bros Discovery carries $40.4 billion in financial obligation.

"The structure change would make it easier for WBD to sell its direct TV networks," eMarketer analyst Ross Benes stated, referring to the cable television business. "However, discovering a buyer will be difficult. The networks are in financial obligation and have no indications of growth."

In August, Warner Bros Discovery documented the worth of its TV assets by over $9 billion due to unpredictability around costs from cable television and satellite distributors and sports betting rights renewals.

Today, the media company revealed a multi-year offer increasing the total fees Comcast will pay to distribute Warner Bros Discovery's networks.

Warner Bros Discovery is sports betting the Comcast arrangement, together with a deal reached this year with cable and broadband supplier Charter, will be a design template for future settlements with suppliers. That might assist stabilize prices for the domestic pay TV market. (Reporting by Deborah Sophia and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru, Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Arun Koyyur, Keith Weir and David Gregorio)