WarnerMedia CEO says DirecTV is not for sale, Parries estate report is out of print

John Stankey, who is in his last days as CEO of WarnerMedia before he finishes second at AT & T, where he will continue his portfolio of movies and television series, said DirecTV Was not for sale.

The executive addressed the satellite sector and other hot topics in an interview with the the Wall Street newspaper. Curiously, he also seemed to tear down a report released earlier Tuesday by NBC News. Citing many unidentified sources, NBC claimed that Jeff Zucker, the head of CNN and Turner, was the first to succeed Stankey as CEO of WarnerMedia when he became AT & T's chief operating officer. T.

Sources familiar with the improvements to the company's executive structure are telling Deadline that proper research with the CEO, involving outside candidates, is a more likely solution.

"I'm not trying to find my successor at the moment," said Stankey at WSJ with a dose of his usual frankness. The newspaper adds that it "does not intend" to give up the post of CEO after moving to his new AT & T position on October 1, which means that Zucker could be on the front line, but the line might not move. A representative from WarnerMedia stated that the company did not comment on personnel issues.

Strategic moves at AT & T are under increased scrutiny, in part because of the activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which acquired a $ 3.2 billion position in the company and presented the changes that he wants to see. In a letter to AT & T's board of directors, the fund has published harsh criticisms about the acquisitions of DirecTV and Time Warner.

With regard to DirecTV, speculation has been raging in recent days over the way forward for the satellite distributor, given the heavy losses suffered by its subscribers and its devaluation since its acquisition by AT & T in 2015 for 67 , $ 1 billion, including debt. A scenario envisioned by Dish Network President Charlie Ergen at last week's Goldman Sachs conference in New York combined Dish and DirecTV, but he acknowledged that regulatory alarms could be triggered. AT & T's chief financial officer, John Stephens, also said that a merger of the two satellite giants "had already been attempted," but that it never seemed likely to remove regulatory hurdles .

Stankey said several options for DirecTV had been considered, but that the decision to retain it depended on its value as a targeted advertising medium. In markets where DirecTV homes can also get advanced broadband service from AT & T, Stankey said, satellite churn has been lower. The broadband offering is an essential weapon for AT & T, which has to compete with major pay-TV operators such as Comcast.

The prices for HBO Max will be revealed on October 29th. Stankey said to the WSJ the "superior quality of the service should justify a slightly higher price". Apple and Disney have recently established the low-end streaming spectrum, at $ 5 and $ 7 a month, respectively. HBO currently runs $ 15 a month.

Stankey also championed the wholesale restructuring of WarnerMedia, which has profoundly transformed the decades-old company that had become accustomed to functional units operating in silos. Regarding the large number of departures of senior executives, including HBO leaders Richard Plepler and Turner, David Levy, Stankey said: "We have restructured this activity through the participation of those who have come to want to play. . "