This 1 Comment From Discovery's CEO Should Terrify Cable Companies
Are television production companies worried about cable TV's cord-cutting headwind? They may have been at one point in time. Not so much anymore though. Indeed, they may now even be embracing the paradigm shift, with the advent of streaming leaving them with much stronger hand than they've ever held in the past.
That's the takeaway from recent comments made by Discovery (NASDAQ: DISCA) (NASDAQ: DISCK) CEO David Zaslav, anyway, offered up just before AT&T (NYSE: T) announced it would be melding its WarnerMedia arm with Discovery. Simply put, Zaslav doesn't seem to mind letting cable companies like Comcast's (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Xfinity or Charter (NASDAQ: CHTR) know how well his company is doing without them. Perhaps he knew when he was speaking that the creation of the video entertainment titan was forthcoming, emboldening what could almost be considered a taunt.
Other television production studios like ViacomCBS' (NASDAQ: VIAC) (NASDAQ: VIAC.A) Paramount or Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) haven't echoed Zaslav's taunt quite as boldly. They're likely thinking the same thing, though. That is, maybe they're also better off doubling down on their own direct-to-consumer initiatives than continuing to kowtow to the cable TV industry.
Source Fool.com