Discovery, Inc.

[19][20][21] In 2019, Discovery Communications moved its headquarters to New York City,[22] keeping 300 employees in a smaller hub in Silver Spring.[24] In the years that followed, Zaslav placed a major focus on bolstering Discovery's core networks, programming, and expanding the company's reach into digital media.[41] On October 4, 2011, due to the wider implementation of high-definition feeds for mainstream cable channels, HD Theater was relaunched as Velocity, a new "upscale male" network focusing on automotive programming.[56] In May 2016, Discovery initiated a restructuring plan aiming to save $40 to $60 million by the third quarter of 2016, including a shift in strategy to "maximize" its linear television business whilst plotting larger investments in content, digital media, sports, and international markets.[67][68] On August 3, 2017, Discovery announced that it would contribute Velocity into a joint venture with the digital, live events, and direct-to-consumer businesses of automotive publisher TEN: The Enthusiast Network.[79][80][81] In November 2018, Chip and Joanna Gaines of the former HGTV series Fixer Upper announced on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, that they were in early talks to form a "lifestyle focused media network" with Discovery named after their personal company Magnolia.[87] In January 2019, Discovery increased its ownership of Play Sports Group, operator of the YouTube channel Global Cycling Network, to 71%.[78] On April 1, 2019, after a previous agreement with the broadcaster lapsed six years prior, Discovery announced a 10-year global content partnership with BBC Studios, under which it will become the exclusive subscription video-on-demand rightsholder of programming from the BBC Natural History Unit (which will become the basis of an international subscription service by 2020) outside of China, Ireland, and the UK.[96] On May 17, 2021, AT&T announced that it had reached an agreement to merge its content and broadcasting subsidiary, WarnerMedia (the former Time Warner, which AT&T had acquired in 2018 for just over $85 billion in an attempt to become a vertically integrated media conglomerate) with Discovery Inc. to form a new company, subject to regulatory approval.The company will aim to expand their streaming services (which includes WarnerMedia's HBO Max) to reach 400 million global subscribers.Discovery, and an interim wordmark was unveiled with the tagline "The stuff dreams are made from"—a line from the 1941 Warner Bros. film The Maltese Falcon.Zaslav stated that the name would reflect "the combination of Warner Bros.' fabled hundred-year legacy of creative, authentic storytelling and taking bold risks to bring the most amazing stories to life, with Discovery's global brand that has always stood brightly for integrity, innovation and inspiration".[100] Electronic Arts, who were a bidder in the proposed sale of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, purchased the mobile gaming studio Playdemic from WBIE for US$1.4 billion in the same month.[105][106] On January 5, 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that WarnerMedia and Paramount Global (at the time known as ViacomCBS) were exploring a possible sale of either a majority stake or all of The CW, and that Nexstar Media Group (which became The CW's largest affiliate group when it acquired former WB co-owner Tribune Broadcasting in 2019) was considered a leading bidder.[108] However, reports also indicated that WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS could include a contractual commitment that would require any new owner to buy new programming from those companies, allowing them to reap some continual revenue through the network.[119] On September 1, 2010, the Discovery headquarters were the site of a hostage taking; a lone gunman identified as James J. Lee (c. 1967 – September 1, 2010), armed with two starter pistols[120] and an explosive device, took three people hostage inside of the Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, prompting an evacuation of the building.[122][123] The Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) confirmed that Lee had an explosive device and was holding three people[124] hostage in the lobby.Lee had published criticisms of the network in an online manifesto at Savetheplanetprotest.com,[123] among which was a demand for the company to cease the broadcasting of television series displaying or encouraging the birth of "parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions".[129] His manifesto also railed against "immigration pollution and anchor baby filth", leading commentators such as Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center to decry Lee as an "eco-fascist".[130] Lee's opinions were dominated by Malthusian analysis,[131] though he also cited works ranging from Daniel Quinn's novel My Ishmael to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth.