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112-452: Great American Family is an American cable television network. Owned by Great American Media , it broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies . It was originally established in 1995 by Jones Radio Network as Great American Country ( GAC ), a country music channel . GAC was later acquired by Scripps Networks and, in turn, Discovery Inc. Under Scripps, GAC's format

224-502: A Fort Worth -based investment group led by private equity investor Tom Hicks and former Crown Media Holdings CEO Bill Abbott announced that it would acquire Great American Country from Discovery Inc.; the company had recently announced its intent to merge with WarnerMedia . GAC Media would also acquire the equestrian network Ride TV . Abbott had abruptly stepped down from Crown Media in January 2020, shortly after Hallmark Channel

336-473: A 75% controlling interest in The CW; WBD and Paramount would each retain a 12.5% ownership interest in the network. Nexstar stated that Mark Pedowitz would remain chairman and CEO of the network. WBD and Paramount would still produce content for The CW as the network's main content suppliers, but Nexstar stated that the arrangement would be for the 2022–23 broadcast season , and it was given "the option to extend

448-567: A broader array of content. It was reported that the company had also suspended scripted development at TBS and TNT , to evaluate their strategies moving forward. The following day, Zaslav purchased approximately $ 1 million worth of WBD stock. On May 11, 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery eliminated several executive positions carried over from WarnerMedia, including Kids, Young Adults and Classics head Tom Ascheim , and general manager of TBS, TNT, and TruTV head Brett Weitz. These networks would be overseen by Finch as head of U.S. Networks, while

560-473: A consultant. WBD delivered its second-quarter earnings report on August 4, 2022. Ahead of the report, the company performed multiple cuts to HBO Max throughout July and early-August, including cutting new programming development in much of Europe, live-action children's programming development, and direct-to-streaming films—leading to the notable August 3 cancellations of the nearly-completed films Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt as tax write-offs , and

672-408: 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. The CW's then-president-and-CEO Mark Pedowitz confirmed talks of a potential sale in a memo to CW staffers, but added that "It's too early to speculate what might happen." On January 26, 2022, AT&T CEO John Stankey stated that

784-440: A culture of internal competition between WarnerMedia's businesses. He also expected that "investment avoidance" via the consolidation of redundant business units (such as streaming) and staff would be one of the main ways that the company would achieve its promised $ 3 billion in cost savings. On April 21, 2022, Licht and Perrette announced the shutdown of CNN's streaming service CNN+ , which had only launched two weeks prior to

896-453: A deal to add GAC Living and GAC Family to the service beginning in early December 2021. Cable television A cable channel (sometimes known as a cable network ) is a television network available via cable television. Many of the same channels are distributed through satellite television . Alternative terms include non-broadcast channel or programming service , the latter being mainly used in legal contexts. The abbreviation CATV

1008-405: A dedicated analog circuit-switched service. Other advantages include better voice quality and integration to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network providing cheap or unlimited nationwide and international calling. In many cases, digital cable telephone service is separate from cable modem service being offered by many cable companies and does not rely on Internet Protocol (IP) traffic or

1120-466: A format and original programming strategy mirroring Abbott's former employer Hallmark Channel (including an emphasis on original television films tied to holidays), and leveraging talent previously associated with that network. The previous country lifestyle format was moved to Ride TV—a second channel acquired by GAC Media–which was concurrently relaunched as the sister network GAC Living (later Great American Faith & Living). In 2022, Abbott described

1232-453: A free ad-supported streaming service known as "Great American Adventure", and a "fan portal" that would allow users to interact with GAC talent. In July 2022, GAC Media announced a corporate rebranding that would replace the "GAC" prefix with "Great American", with GAC Family being rebranded as Great American Family on August 20, 2022, and GAC Media changing its trade name to Great American Media. On February 6, 2024, Mario Lopez announced

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1344-436: A given location, cable distribution lines must be available on the local utility poles or underground utility lines. Coaxial cable brings the signal to the customer's building through a service drop , an overhead or underground cable. If the subscriber's building does not have a cable service drop, the cable company will install one. The standard cable used in the U.S. is RG-6 , which has a 75 ohm impedance , and connects with

1456-543: A high elevation. At the outset, cable systems only served smaller communities without television stations of their own, and which could not easily receive signals from stations in cities because of distance or hilly terrain. In Canada, however, communities with their own signals were fertile cable markets, as viewers wanted to receive American signals. Rarely, as in the college town of Alfred, New York , U.S. cable systems retransmitted Canadian channels. Although early ( VHF ) television receivers could receive 12 channels (2–13),

1568-466: A higher rate. At the local headend, the feed signals from the individual television channels are received by dish antennas from communication satellites . Additional local channels, such as local broadcast television stations, educational channels from local colleges, and community access channels devoted to local governments ( PEG channels) are usually included on the cable service. Commercial advertisements for local business are also inserted in

1680-405: A local VHF television station broadcast. Local broadcast channels were not usable for signals deemed to be a priority, but technology allowed low-priority signals to be placed on such channels by synchronizing their blanking intervals . TVs were unable to reconcile these blanking intervals and the slight changes due to travel through a medium, causing ghosting . The bandwidth of the amplifiers also

1792-463: A microwave-based system, may be used instead. Coaxial cables are capable of bi-directional carriage of signals as well as the transmission of large amounts of data . Cable television signals use only a portion of the bandwidth available over coaxial lines. This leaves plenty of space available for other digital services such as cable internet , cable telephony and wireless services, using both unlicensed and licensed spectra. Broadband internet access

1904-542: A multi-year deal with Great American Media to appear in productions across its properties, with Lopez expected to be involved in Great American Family's slate of Christmas movies for 2024. Great American Family is positioned as a family-oriented channel with original series and movies reflecting "American culture, lifestyle and heritage", and emphasizing "relationships and the emotional connections related to holidays, seasons and occasions". Abbott stated that

2016-586: A network that actively chooses to exclude the LGBTQIA+ community". In October 2023, Abbott distanced himself from Bure's statements, stating that they were not on behalf of Great American Media. On November 5, 2010, AT&T U-verse dropped all Scripps Networks, including GAC, due to a carriage dispute over an increase in retransmission fees. Two days later the dispute was resolved. In October 2021, GAC Media reached an agreement with over-the-top service Frndly TV . In November 2021, Philo and GAC Media reached

2128-425: A new publicly traded company. AT&T and Discovery officially confirmed the agreement the next day; the merger would be structured as a Reverse Morris Trust , with AT&T shareholders holding a 71% interest in the new company's stock and appointing seven board members, and Discovery shareholders holding a 29% interest and appointing six board members. AT&T would receive US$ 43 billion in cash and debt from

2240-639: A new studio, which will be funded by and have an exclusive, five-year distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures. Warner Bros. Pictures was then divided into three business units with their own leadership: former MGM executives Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy became the co-chairs of Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema , and temporarily oversaw the DC Films and Warner Animation Group units. Eight days later, WBD named former Discovery and Univision executive Luis Silberwasser as chairman of Sports. In July 2022, Alan Horn rejoined Warner Bros. as

2352-540: A partnership with local media company Stuff , which launched an evening newscast under the ThreeNews banner using its resources and former Newshub staff. In July 2024, CNN CEO Mark Thompson announced 100 employees would be laid off as part of a larger strategy to consolidate and integrate its television and digital operations. A week later, a smaller number of WBD employees at Max and in production, business affairs, and finance were also let go. On July 18, 2024, it

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2464-409: A quarterly loss in subscribers), describing Warner Bros. Discovery as being a "far more balanced and competitive company" that would "invest at scale smartly" and not "overspend" on growth and that its streaming businesses would complement its linear television. He stated that HBO Max had "meaningful subscriber churn ", and that the planned merger of it with Discovery+ would help to reduce it by offering

2576-564: A rarity, found in an ever-dwindling number of markets. Analog television sets are accommodated, their tuners mostly obsolete and dependent entirely on the set-top box. Cable television is mostly available in North America , Europe , Australia , Asia and South America . Cable television has had little success in Africa , as it is not cost-effective to lay cables in sparsely populated areas. Multichannel multipoint distribution service ,

2688-455: A receiver box. The cable company will provide set-top boxes based on the level of service a customer purchases, from basic set-top boxes with a standard-definition picture connected through the standard coaxial connection on the TV, to high-definition wireless digital video recorder (DVR) receivers connected via HDMI or component . Older analog television sets are cable ready and can receive

2800-766: A series of signal amplifiers and line extenders. These devices carry the signal to customers via passive RF devices called taps. The very first cable networks were operated locally, notably in 1936 by Rediffusion in London in the United Kingdom and the same year in Berlin in Germany, notably for the Olympic Games , and from 1948 onwards in the United States and Switzerland. This type of local cable network

2912-488: A single platform with a mixture of both companies' technologies. He also noted that WBD may prioritize launching Discovery+ and HBO Max as a unified platform in markets where Discovery+ has yet to launch, such as another parts of the Asia-Pacific. On March 14, 2022, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels—who would assume the same position post-merger—confirmed that such a transition was a long-term goal. On December 22, 2021,

3024-417: A special telephone interface at the customer's premises that converts the analog signals from the customer's in-home wiring into a digital signal, which is then sent on the local loop (replacing the analog last mile , or plain old telephone service (POTS) to the company's switching center, where it is connected to the public switched telephone network ( PSTN ). The biggest obstacle to cable telephone service

3136-605: A type F connector . The cable company's portion of the wiring usually ends at a distribution box on the building exterior, and built-in cable wiring in the walls usually distributes the signal to jacks in different rooms to which televisions are connected. Multiple cables to different rooms are split off the incoming cable with a small device called a splitter . There are two standards for cable television; older analog cable, and newer digital cable which can carry data signals used by digital television receivers such as high-definition television (HDTV) equipment. All cable companies in

3248-422: Is achieved over coaxial cable by using cable modems to convert the network data into a type of digital signal that can be transferred over coaxial cable. One problem with some cable systems is the older amplifiers placed along the cable routes are unidirectional thus in order to allow for uploading of data the customer would need to use an analog telephone modem to provide for the upstream connection. This limited

3360-570: Is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in New York City . It was formed from WarnerMedia 's spin-off by AT&T and merger with Discovery, Inc. on April 8, 2022. The company's properties are divided into nine business units, consisting of the flagship Warner Bros. film and television studios, comic book publisher DC Comics , Home Box Office, Inc. (including HBO , Cinemax and Magnolia Network ), U.S. Networks Group (including

3472-482: Is the need for nearly 100% reliable service for emergency calls. One of the standards available for digital cable telephony, PacketCable , seems to be the most promising and able to work with the quality of service (QOS) demands of traditional analog plain old telephone service (POTS) service. The biggest advantage to digital cable telephone service is similar to the advantage of digital cable, namely that data can be compressed, resulting in much less bandwidth used than

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3584-606: Is used in the US for cable television and originally stood for community antenna television , from cable television's origins in 1948; in areas where over-the-air TV reception was limited by distance from transmitters or mountainous terrain, large community antennas were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes. In 1968, 6.4% of Americans had cable television. The number increased to 7.5% in 1978. By 1988, 52.8% of all households were using cable. The number further increased to 62.4% in 1994. To receive cable television at

3696-474: The Centennial, Colorado -based Jones Radio Network . On October 12, 2004, Scripps Networks acquired Great American Country from Jones Radio Network. In late 2005, television industry trade publication Broadcasting & Cable named GAC as one of TV's "Breakout Networks", saying of the channel: "The emerging GAC is a younger, hipper version [of CMT ] that respects Nashville's country roads but widens

3808-492: The DVB-C , DVB-C2 stream to IP for distribution of TV over IP network in the home. Many cable companies offer internet access through DOCSIS . In the most common system, multiple television channels (as many as 500, although this varies depending on the provider's available channel capacity) are distributed to subscriber residences through a coaxial cable , which comes from a trunkline supported on utility poles originating at

3920-649: The Tournament of Roses Parade beginning in 2024 under a multi-year deal, replacing Hallmark Channel as its "official" cable broadcaster (notwithstanding the event also being carried on cable by Cowboy Channel ). In a November 2022 interview with The Wall Street Journal , chief creative officer Candace Cameron Bure stated her desire to produce movies with stronger faith-based themes for Great American Family, explaining that GAC "wanted to promote faith programming and good family entertainment". She stated, "I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at

4032-492: The United States Department of Justice on February 9. On March 11, 2022, the merger was approved by Discovery's shareholders. Due to the structure of the merger, it did not require separate approval from AT&T shareholders. In an SEC filing on March 25, 2022, AT&T stated that two-way trading of WBD stock with that of AT&T would begin on April 4, 2022, and that a special dividend would be issued

4144-616: The high band 7–13 of North American television frequencies . Some operators as in Cornwall, Ontario , used a dual distribution network with Channels 2–13 on each of the two cables. During the 1980s, United States regulations not unlike public, educational, and government access (PEG) created the beginning of cable-originated live television programming. As cable penetration increased, numerous cable-only TV stations were launched, many with their own news bureaus that could provide more immediate and more localized content than that provided by

4256-449: The 2025–26 season, ending a nearly 36-year association between the NBA and TNT. WBD had attempted to invoke a condition in its contract allowing it to match offers made by competitors (with the company, in particular, targeting the package sold to Amazon), but the league argued that it did not sufficiently match Amazon's offer. WBD threatened to take legal action over the agreement, claiming that

4368-512: The Internet. Traditional cable television providers and traditional telecommunication companies increasingly compete in providing voice, video and data services to residences. The combination of television, telephone and Internet access is commonly called triple play , regardless of whether CATV or telcos offer it. More than 400,000 television service subscribers. Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. ( WBD )

4480-551: The NBA had "grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights". In August 2024, WBD reported that it had lost $ 10 billion in the second quarter of 2024, relating to continued losses from its direct-to-consumer segment and the devaluation of its linear TV assets. In November 2024, WBD agreed to a legal settlement with the NBA. The settlement included access to NBA highlights at no additional cost for Bleacher Report and House of Highlights and allowed for WBD, under its TNT Sports division, to continue operating NBA TV and NBA.com for

4592-570: The Time Warner name in 2003. Time Warner spun off its cable division (later known as Spectrum owned by Charter Communications ) and AOL (now owned by Yahoo! Inc. ) in 2009 and Time Inc. was spun out in 2013, which was later acquired by Meredith Corporation and is now known as Dotdash Meredith . In 2018, Discovery Communications and AT&T acquired Scripps Networks Interactive and Time Warner, and were renamed to Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia respectively. In 2019, AT&T dissolved

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4704-522: The Turner Broadcasting System as part of its reorganization of its media assets. On May 16, 2021, Bloomberg News reported that AT&T was considering an offer to divest equity interest in their media subsidiary WarnerMedia (the former Time Warner, which AT&T acquired in 2018 for just over $ 85 billion in an attempt to become a vertically integrated media conglomerate ), and have it merge with Discovery, Inc. to form

4816-485: The United States have switched to or are in the course of switching to digital cable television since it was first introduced in the late 1990s. Most cable companies require a set-top box ( cable converter box ) or a slot on one's TV set for conditional access module cards to view their cable channels, even on newer televisions with digital cable QAM tuners, because most digital cable channels are now encrypted, or scrambled , to reduce cable service theft . A cable from

4928-417: The auspices of Investigation Discovery and abandoning its remaining original live news programming. In January 2023, WBD announced licensing agreements with the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services The Roku Channel and Fox Corporation 's Tubi , featuring library content from Discovery, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, and HBO (including some of

5040-404: The basic selection. By subscribing to additional tiers, customers could get specialty channels, movie channels, and foreign channels. Large cable companies used addressable descramblers to limit access to premium channels for customers not subscribing to higher tiers, however the above magazines often published workarounds for that technology as well. During the 1990s, the pressure to accommodate

5152-472: The boulevards." In December 2007, the network announced a partnership with ABC Radio Networks (now Cumulus Media Networks) to produce GAC Nights: Live from Nashville , a syndicated country music radio show broadcast from GAC's Music Row studios and hosted by GAC personalities Suzanne Alexander, Storme Warren , and Nan Kelley . In July 2008, Scripps Networks was spun off from the E. W. Scripps Company as Scripps Networks Interactive . On October 1, 2013,

5264-563: The cable box itself, these midband channels were used for early incarnations of pay TV , e.g. The Z Channel (Los Angeles) and HBO but transmitted in the clear i.e. not scrambled as standard TV sets of the period could not pick up the signal nor could the average consumer de-tune the normal stations to be able to receive it. Once tuners that could receive select mid-band and super-band channels began to be incorporated into standard television sets, broadcasters were forced to either install scrambling circuitry or move these signals further out of

5376-429: The cable company's local distribution facility, called the headend . Many channels can be transmitted through one coaxial cable by a technique called frequency division multiplexing . At the headend, each television channel is translated to a different frequency . By giving each channel a different frequency slot on the cable, the separate television signals do not interfere with each other. At an outdoor cable box on

5488-515: The cable to send data from the customer box to the cable headend, for advanced features such as requesting pay-per-view shows or movies, cable internet access , and cable telephone service . The downstream channels occupy a band of frequencies from approximately 50 MHz to 1 GHz, while the upstream channels occupy frequencies of 5 to 42 MHz. Subscribers pay with a monthly fee. Subscribers can choose from several levels of service, with premium packages including more channels but costing

5600-574: The cancellation of Hallmark Channel's annual Kitten Bowl special (a feline-centric parallel to Animal Planet 's annual Puppy Bowl special, which airs on the day of the Super Bowl ), the network announced that it would present a similar event known as the Great American Rescue Bowl in 2023, with host Beth Stern moving over to the new program. In July 2023, it was announced that that Great American Family would broadcast

5712-675: The case of no local CBS or ABC station being available – rebroadcast the programming from a nearby affiliate but fill in with its own news and other community programming to suit its own locale. Many live local programs with local interests were subsequently created all over the United States in most major television markets in the early 1980s. This evolved into today's many cable-only broadcasts of diverse programming, including cable-only produced television movies and miniseries . Cable specialty channels , starting with channels oriented to show movies and large sporting or performance events, diversified further, and narrowcasting became common. By

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5824-483: The change of plans during an earnings call, saying that Discovery+ has "profitable subscribers that are very happy with the product offering". In early-June 2023, Chris Licht was fired from CNN. On June 20, 2023, WBD underwent a round of layoffs affecting around 100 employees in the U.S. Networks division, most notably including multiple Turner Classic Movies (TCM) executives such as Pola Changnon (who had been with Turner for over 25 years). WBD announced plans to place

5936-629: The channel to advertisers—many of whom had already made their advertising commitments for the fourth quarter—leaving it unable to fully capitalize from the Christmas holiday season in 2021. However, Abbott felt that the market would be "pretty strong" in 2022, and believed that the network was "certainly selling family-friendly content and quality original movies with talent that people love and resonate with viewers". The network slated 18 new original movie premieres for Great American Christmas in 2022. He also revealed plans for new digital platforms, including

6048-556: The channel under Cartoon Network head Michael Ouweleen . It was also reported that WBD was preparing a deal to sell half of the published music catalog of Warner Bros. Entertainment (which consists primarily of music composed for its films and TV series, and is currently being administered by Universal Music Publishing Group ) for around $ 500 million. Amid concerns over the future of TCM, Martin Scorsese , Steven Spielberg , and Paul Thomas Anderson met with Zaslav, and on June 23 it

6160-456: The channel's rebranding, the daily music video show Daily Countdown was renamed Great American Playlist . Top 20 Country Countdown continued to air (it was cancelled in December 2018), and the network still offered country music specials including Backstory , Introducing and Origins . In March 2018, Discovery Inc. acquired Scripps Networks Interactive. On June 7, 2021, GAC Media ,

6272-508: The chosen channel into the TV set on Channel 2, 3 or 4. Initially, UHF broadcast stations were at a disadvantage because the standard TV sets in use at the time were unable to receive their channels. With the passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act in 1964, all new television sets were required to include a UHF tuner, nonetheless, it would still take a few years for UHF stations to become competitive. Before being added to

6384-520: The company aimed to be the "most innovative, exciting and fun place to tell stories in the world", and would combine 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 "integrity, innovation and inspiration." In an SEC Filing on November 18, 2021, Discovery revealed that talks with AT&T had fallen through, in April 2021, due to disagreements over

6496-484: The company made a number of further acquisitions. In 1979, Warner Communications formed a joint venture with credit card company American Express called Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment . American Express acquired a 50% stake in Warner Communications' cable television holdings for $ 175 million. This company owned such cable channels as MTV , Nickelodeon , The Movie Channel , and VH1 (which

6608-410: The company's top executive roles are filled by their Discovery counterparts, including Gunnar Wiedenfels as Warner Bros. Discovery's chief financial officer (CFO), JB Perrette as president and CEO of global streaming and interactive, and Discovery's chief lifestyle brands officer Kathleen Finch —whose role has been expanded to cover most of the combined company's U.S. linear networks, besides CNN (which

6720-402: The completion of the merger; the new leadership considered it to be incompatible with their goal of a unified streaming service for all WBD properties. In an investors' call on April 26 (concurrent with the first quarter earnings reports for Discovery Inc., its last prior to the merger), Zaslav contrasted the company's streaming businesses with those of Netflix (whose stock saw a decline after

6832-444: The consolidation of Cartoon Network Studios ' and Warner Bros. Animation 's development and production teams (with the two studios remaining separate labels with their own distinct output). On October 3, 2022, Nexstar closed its deal to acquire a controlling interest in The CW. Mark Pedowitz resigned from his position as the network's chairman and CEO, with Dennis Miller stepping in as the president of The CW. In October 2022, it

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6944-647: The core." Of Bure's implication that Great American Media productions would never depict same-sex couples , Abbott responded, "It's certainly the year 2022, so we're aware of the trends. There's no whiteboard that says, 'Yes, this' or 'No, we'll never go here. ' " Bure's remarks faced criticism from members and supporters of the LGBT community , as they were believed to be an allusion to the increasing use of progressive themes—such as recognition of LGBT relationships—in Hallmark Channel productions. In response to

7056-534: The criticism, Bure stated that people of various "identities" worked on Great American Media programming, and that "all of you who know me, know beyond question that I have great love and affection for all people." In December 2022, actor Neal Bledsoe announced via social media that he would end his relationship with GAC Media, stating that "the thought that my work could be used to deliberately discriminate against anyone horrifies and infuriates me", and that "I could never forgive myself for continuing my relationship with

7168-489: The divestment. The merger was expected to be completed in mid-2022. The new company would be led by Discovery's current CEO, David Zaslav ; WarnerMedia's CEO Jason Kilar 's position in the new company was uncertain. Zaslav stated that the two companies would spend a combined US$ 20 billion annually on content (outpacing even Netflix ). The company will aim to expand their streaming services, which includes WarnerMedia's Max , to reach 400 million global subscribers. It

7280-415: The fact that the descrambling circuitry was for a time present in these tuners, depriving the cable operator of much of their revenue, such cable-ready tuners are rarely used now – requiring a return to the set-top boxes used from the 1970s onward. The digital television transition in the United States has put all signals, broadcast and cable, into digital form, rendering analog cable television service

7392-457: The growing array of offerings resulted in digital transmission that made more efficient use of the VHF signal capacity; fibre optics was common to carry signals into areas near the home, where coax could carry higher frequencies over the short remaining distance. Although for a time in the 1980s and 1990s, television receivers and VCRs were equipped to receive the mid-band and super-band channels. Due to

7504-450: The headend, the electrical signal is translated into an optical signal and sent through the fiber. The fiber trunkline goes to several distribution hubs , from which multiple fibers fan out to carry the signal to boxes called optical nodes in local communities. At the optical node, the optical signal is translated back into an electrical signal and carried by coaxial cable distribution lines on utility poles, from which cables branch out to

7616-460: The jack in the wall is attached to the input of the box, and an output cable from the box is attached to the television, usually the RF-IN or composite input on older TVs. Since the set-top box only decodes the single channel that is being watched, each television in the house requires a separate box. Some unencrypted channels, usually traditional over-the-air broadcast networks, can be displayed without

7728-490: The late 1980s, cable-only signals outnumbered broadcast signals on cable systems, some of which by this time had expanded beyond 35 channels. By the mid-1980s in Canada, cable operators were allowed by the regulators to enter into distribution contracts with cable networks on their own. By the 1990s, tiers became common, with customers able to subscribe to different tiers to obtain different selections of additional channels above

7840-474: The majority of the advertisement-supported cable channels of its predecessors, namely Discovery, Scripps Networks , Turner Broadcasting , and Warner), CNN Worldwide (which includes CNN and CNN International ), TNT Sports (including Motor Trend Group , TNT Sports UK , and Eurosport ), Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment (which includes the Discovery+ and Max streaming services, as well as

7952-423: The maximum number of channels that could be broadcast in one city was 7: channels 2, 4, either 5 or 6, 7, 9, 11 and 13, as receivers at the time were unable to receive strong (local) signals on adjacent channels without distortion. (There were frequency gaps between 4 and 5, and between 6 and 7, which allowed both to be used in the same city). As equipment improved, all twelve channels could be utilized, except where

8064-461: The merger was expected to close sometime during the second quarter of 2022. On February 1, 2022, it was reported that AT&T had finalized the structure of the merger: WarnerMedia would be spun off pro rata to AT&T's shareholders, and then merge into Discovery Inc. to form the new company. The transaction was approved by the Brazilian antitrust regulator Cade on February 7, followed by

8176-451: The nearest network newscast. Such stations may use similar on-air branding as that used by the nearby broadcast network affiliate, but the fact that these stations do not broadcast over the air and are not regulated by the FCC, their call signs are meaningless. These stations evolved partially into today's over-the-air digital subchannels, where a main broadcast TV station e.g. NBC 37* would – in

8288-409: The network as featuring a mix of secular and "soft" faith-based programming. As of February 2015, GAC was available to approximately 59 million television households (51% of pay television customers) in the United States. The channel was launched on December 31, 1995, with the first music video to be broadcast on the channel, Garth Brooks ' " The Thunder Rolls ". The channel was originally owned by

8400-552: The network planned to feature "soft faith" and secular programming, describing the market for faith-based programming as being "grossly underserved". The network acquired season 2 of When Hope Calls , a spin-off of Hallmark Channel's When Calls the Heart that originally aired on the network's streaming service Hallmark Movies Now . In February 2022, it acquired reruns of the Full House sequel series Fuller House , which

8512-426: The network unveiled a new logo inspired by the U.S. flag, dropping the "GAC" acronym in favor of using the "Great American Country" name in full. The network stated that it wanted to emphasize its expansion from a country music-oriented channel to one with a larger emphasis on "country" as referring to a "sense of place" and lifestyles (citing programming such as Celebrity Motor Homes and Farm Kings as examples). With

8624-712: The next day to give AT&T shareholders a 0.24 share in WBD for each share of AT&T common stock they hold. The merger was officially completed on April 8, 2022, with trading beginning on the Nasdaq on April 11. At this time the company unveiled its final logo, designed by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv , which features a rendition of Warner Bros.' long-time shield logo. The combined company retained several top executives from WarnerMedia, including film and television heads Toby Emmerich and Channing Dungey , and HBO and HBO Max chief content officer (CCO) Casey Bloys. Most of

8736-470: The number of HBO Max subscribers by at least 10 million by counting inactivated subscriptions bundled with AT&T services—thus misleading investors in violation of the Securities Act . It also alleged that Discovery executives failed to warn investors that WarnerMedia's prospectus contained misleading statements. On September 28 during a company town hall, Zaslav addressed speculation that WBD

8848-408: The old analog cable without a set-top box. To receive digital cable channels on an analog television set, even unencrypted ones, requires a different type of box, a digital television adapter supplied by the cable company or purchased by the subscriber. Another new distribution method that takes advantage of the low cost high quality DVB distribution to residential areas, uses TV gateways to convert

8960-437: The ownership of the new company between AT&T and Discovery shareholders, and the amount of debt transferred to Discovery when they merged with WarnerMedia, before talks resumed on May 17, 2021. In November 2021, during an earnings call, Discovery Streaming CEO JB Perrette discussed possible options for its Discovery+ streaming service post-merger, including bundling the service with HBO Max and eventually merging them under

9072-456: The partnership." As the transaction did not need any regulatory approval (unlike the "Big Four" networks , The CW does not own any of its stations), Nexstar immediately took over the network's operations. In September 2022, WBD became the subject of a proposed class-action lawsuit by one of its shareholders, alleging that WarnerMedia was overinvesting in streaming content "without sufficient concern for return on investments", and had overstated

9184-826: The planned merger of Discovery+ and HBO Max would occur by summer 2023 in the United States, with other markets to follow. HBO subsequently faced a reorganization on August 15 to dismantle most of HBO Max's autonomous units, with HBO Max's head of comedy Suzanna Makkos now reporting to HBO's head of comedy Amy Gravitt, and layoffs within HBO Max's non-scripted, live-action family entertainment, international originals, and casting units, as well as HBO's acquisitions unit. HBO Max also continued to remove and cancel some of its lesser-viewed original programming, particularly family-oriented and animated series. On August 15, 2022, Nexstar confirmed to another report by WSJ in June that it would buy

9296-426: The production of direct-to-streaming films for HBO Max—with Zaslav arguing that they lacked economic value and impact in comparison to theatrical releases. WBD renewed its contracts with Bloys and other key HBO executives, with Zaslav praising his performance as chief content officer. Zaslav stated that a "10-year plan" was in development for DC Films, modeled after those of Marvel Studios , while Perrette stated that

9408-504: The programming at the headend (the individual channels, which are distributed nationally, also have their own nationally oriented commercials). Modern cable systems are large, with a single network and headend often serving an entire metropolitan area . Most systems use hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) distribution; this means the trunklines that carry the signal from the headend to local neighborhoods are optical fiber to provide greater bandwidth and also extra capacity for future expansion. At

9520-454: The programming without cost. Later, the cable operators began to carry FM radio stations, and encouraged subscribers to connect their FM stereo sets to cable. Before stereo and bilingual TV sound became common, Pay-TV channel sound was added to the FM stereo cable line-ups. About this time, operators expanded beyond the 12-channel dial to use the midband and superband VHF channels adjacent to

9632-448: The quiet removals of multiple HBO Max original films from the platform and its upcoming releases. In the second quarter of 2022, WBD took $ 9.8 billion in revenue and a net loss of $ 2.2 billion pro forma , primarily from integration and restructuring expenses. The company took $ 825 million in write-offs on "content impairments and development". The company confirmed cuts to children's programming development, and abandoned

9744-476: The range of reception for early cable-ready TVs and VCRs. However, once consumer sets had the ability to receive all 181 FCC allocated channels, premium broadcasters were left with no choice but to scramble. The descrambling circuitry was often published in electronics hobby magazines such as Popular Science and Popular Electronics allowing anybody with anything more than a rudimentary knowledge of broadcast electronics to be able to build their own and receive

9856-463: The series that were pulled from HBO Max earlier). On February 8, 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that WBD had amended its plans to merge Discovery+ with HBO Max, with HBO Max's successor slated to include "most" Discovery content, and Discovery+ remaining operational to retain its subscriber base, and provide an alternative option for customers not interested in the higher-priced unified service. On February 24, WBD CEO David Zaslav confirmed

9968-418: The signals are typically encrypted on modern digital cable systems, and the set-top box must be activated by an activation code sent by the cable company before it will function, which is only sent after the subscriber signs up. If the subscriber fails to pay their bill, the cable company can send a signal to deactivate the subscriber's box, preventing reception. There are also usually upstream channels on

10080-498: The studio. Gunn will oversee creative development on DC projects, while Safran will oversee the business aspect. During an earnings report in November 2022, it was announced that the launch of WBD's streaming service had been moved up to spring 2023. Max was unveiled April 12, 2023. In December 2022, CNN announced cutbacks and a reorganization to prioritize its "core" operations, resulting in sister channel HLN being brought under

10192-560: The studios under the Kids, Young Adults and Classics division ( Warner Bros. Animation , Cartoon Network Studios and Williams Street ) was moved under Warner Bros. Television . The same day, it announced an agreement with British telecom company BT Group for it to contribute its BT Sport channels into a 50/50 joint venture with its UK Eurosport channels, and eventually merge them. On June 1, 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures head Toby Emmerich announced that he would step down and establish

10304-403: The subscriber's residence, the company's service drop cable is connected to cables distributing the signal to different rooms in the building. At each television, the subscriber's television or a set-top box provided by the cable company translates the desired channel back to its original frequency ( baseband ), and it is displayed onscreen. Due to widespread cable theft in earlier analog systems,

10416-472: The transaction was approved by the European Commission . On January 5, 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that WarnerMedia and Paramount Global (at the time named ViacomCBS) were exploring a possible sale of either a majority stake or all of The CW , and that Nexstar Media Group was considered a leading bidder. The reports also indicated that WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS could include

10528-532: The upstream speed to 31.2 Kbp/s and prevented the always-on convenience broadband internet typically provides. Many large cable systems have upgraded or are upgrading their equipment to allow for bi-directional signals, thus allowing for greater upload speed and always-on convenience, though these upgrades are expensive. In North America , Australia and Europe , many cable operators have already introduced cable telephone service, which operates just like existing fixed line operators. This service involves installing

10640-595: The video game publisher Warner Bros. Games ), and International Networks. It also holds a one-eighth stake in The CW (with Paramount Global also owning a one-eighth stake), and a majority stake in Television Food Network, G.P. (comprising Food Network and Cooking Channel ), which are co-owned by Nexstar Media Group . Warner Bros. , Turner Broadcasting System , Scripps Networks Interactive and Discovery, Inc. have conjoined histories. Warner Bros.

10752-471: Was announced that GAC Media had hired Candace Cameron Bure —who had a long-standing relationship with Hallmark Channel dating back to 2008—as its chief content officer, and that she would develop, produce and star in original romantic comedies and holiday content for its networks. During GAC Media's first upfronts presentation in April 2022, Abbott told Broadcasting & Cable that the quick transition to GAC Family did not give them enough time to promote

10864-452: Was announced that filmmaker James Gunn and producer Peter Safran would serve as the co-CEO and co-chairmen of DC Films which rebranded as DC Studios moving forward. The duo has signed a four-year deal that will oversee the production of films, television, and animation under the DC label. The pair will report directly to Zaslav, while also working alongside but independently with other members of

10976-667: Was announced that the channel would be placed under Warner Bros. Pictures Group heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy—who both affirmed the cultural significance of TCM and pledged to keep its programming "untouched and protected". In December 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced the purchase of Turkish streaming platform BluTV , with operations in the MENA region. On February 16, 2024, RedBird Capital Partners (via its United Arab Emirates -backed partnership RedBird IMI) announced its intent to acquire All3Media —a WBD joint venture with Liberty Global —for £1.15 billion. The acquisition

11088-626: Was assumed by Ride TV, which concurrently rebranded as the sister channel GAC Living. GAC Family would mirror many of the programming strategies that Abbott developed while overseeing Hallmark Channel, including original made-for-TV movies and holiday programming. The network has signed deals with a number of actors that have been associated with Hallmark Channel productions, including Trevor Donovan , Jen Lilley , Jessica Lowndes , Jesse Metcalfe , Danica McKellar , and Cameron Mathison , to appear in GAC Family original movies. On April 19, 2022, it

11200-489: Was completed on May 16, 2024. WBD had previously announced an intent to sell its stake in the company to British broadcaster ITV plc , but the company declined. In April 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand announced that it would shut down its news department Newshub (which produced bulletins for its free-to-air channel Three ) in July 2024, citing declining local advertising revenue. Newshub would be supplanted by

11312-563: Was criticized for pulling commercials from the wedding registry Zola that included a lesbian couple. In August 2021, GAC Media announced that it would relaunch Great American Country as GAC Family on September 27, with the GAC initials re- backronymed to stand for "Great American Channels"; The channel was repositioned as a family-oriented general entertainment service with similarities to Hallmark Channel, which Abbot had previously overseen as Crown Media CEO. The previous country lifestyle format

11424-864: Was founded on April 4, 1923, by four brothers, Harry , Albert , Sam , and Jack Warner . The company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation , television , and video games and is one of the "Big Five" American film studios , as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). In 1965, Turner Broadcasting System was founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta , Georgia. A year later, Kinney National Company came into existence and its media division became Warner Communications before merging with Time Inc. in 1990 to become Time Warner. During its time as Warner Communications,

11536-408: Was founded, launching The Discovery Channel three years later and was renamed to Discovery Communications in 1994. Scripps Networks Interactive was founded in 2008 spun off from E. W. Scripps Company 's cable division. In 1996, Time Warner Entertainment acquired the Turner Broadcasting System; but the company later merged with America Online (AOL) to form AOL Time Warner in 2001 and reverted to

11648-431: Was launched in 1985 on the channel space left by Turner's Cable Music Channel ). Warner Communications bought out American Express's half in 1984 and sold the venture a year later to the original iteration of Viacom , which renamed it MTV Networks (now known as Paramount Media Networks). In 1982, Warner Communications purchased Popular Library from CBS Publications . Meanwhile in the same year, Cable Education Network

11760-427: Was limited, meaning frequencies over 250 MHz were difficult to transmit to distant portions of the coaxial network, and UHF channels could not be used at all. To expand beyond 12 channels, non-standard midband channels had to be used, located between the FM band and Channel 7, or superband beyond Channel 13 up to about 300 MHz; these channels initially were only accessible using separate tuner boxes that sent

11872-559: Was mainly used to relay terrestrial channels in geographical areas poorly served by terrestrial television signals. Cable television began in the United States as a commercial business in 1950s. The early systems simply received weak ( broadcast ) channels, amplified them, and sent them over unshielded wires to the subscribers, limited to a community or to adjacent communities. The receiving antenna would be taller than any individual subscriber could afford, thus bringing in stronger signals; in hilly or mountainous terrain it would be placed at

11984-538: Was originally produced for Netflix . Under its previous ownership, original programming included series such as Kimberly's Simply Southern , a cooking show featuring Kimberly Schlapman of the country group Little Big Town ; Farm Kings , a reality show chronicling the King family of Freedom Farms; and Celebrity Motorhomes . From 2011 through 2013, GAC broadcast the National Finals Rodeo . Following

12096-439: Was pursuing a possible sale as early as 2024, stating that they were "absolutely not for sale", and "have everything we need to be successful." On October 11, Warner Bros. Television Group laid off 82 employees and eliminated 43 vacant positions as part of a restructuring that primarily impacts their unscripted and animation units. The restructuring saw the consolidation of Warner Horizon and Telepictures ' creative operations, and

12208-570: Was reported by the Financial Times that Zaslav and WBD executives had been discussing the possibility of breaking up the company, so that WBD's unprofitable linear television networks could be separated from the more profitable Warner Bros. studio business and Max. On July 24, 2024, the NBA officially announced new media rights agreements with Disney ( ESPN and ABC ), NBCUniversal ( NBC and Peacock ), and Amazon Prime Video beginning in

12320-444: Was stated that the company would aim to achieve $ 3 billion in cost savings via synergies within two years. On June 1, 2021, it was announced that the merged company would be known as Warner Bros. Discovery, and an interim wordmark was unveiled with the tagline "The stuff that dreams are made of"—a quote from the 1941 Warner Bros. film The Maltese Falcon , itself paraphrasing Shakespeare's The Tempest . Zaslav explained that

12432-616: Was taken over by Chris Licht , replacing the outgoing Jeff Zucker ), Magnolia Network (which reports to Bloys, after having previously reported directly to Zaslav under Discovery), and the Turner Sports unit (which would be overseen by the newly-formed Warner Bros. Discovery Sports division). In an introductory town hall featuring Oprah Winfrey as host, Zaslav stated that the combined company would need to have "one culture" that "starts with people feeling safe, people feeling valued for who they are", as opposed what he described as

12544-566: Was widened to include lifestyle programming pertaining to the American Heartland and the South , but the network did continue carrying some country music-related programming for a period. On June 28, 2021, GAC was acquired by GAC Media—a new ownership group that includes former Crown Media CEO Bill Abbott and Hicks Equity Partners . On September 27, 2021, the network was relaunched as GAC Family (later Great American Family), with

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