"In The Pipeline": Warner Bros. Discovery Over The Inclusion Of TNT Sports In Africa

During the year, Warner Bros. Discovery had launched TNT Sports in the United States after residing within Europe and Latin America for sometime. Unlike these territories, TNT Sports offering is being tested on TruTV leading to a possible rebrand.

After the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. and also the rise in streaming. The company had made several cuts across their linear platforms with TruTV and TNT in the U.S. on limbo for sometime struggling to find purpose in this shake-up. 

TNT Sports is sort of Warner Bros. Discovery competitor to Disney's ESPN and M-Net's SuperSport. After adding All Eite Wrestling (AEW), plans are underway to include more sports themed programming ranging from series, films and documentaries. 

Sports is an essential part of our daily culture as it brings people together and with the dismantling of linear TV which led to the decline in audience share. Sports managed to retain its portion and has been described as the biggest money grabber.

There's been questions as to whether TNT Sports could be something explored within Africa I mean it wouldn't come as a surprise. TNT Sports already has a presence in other countries and also further action from All Elite Wrestling is on TNT.

In a response to a media enquiry:

Yes, it's in the pipeline.

Taking to account, TNT Sports in the latter are TV channels the one residing within Africa might be folded under TNT as a programming block. As mentioned, All Elite Wrestling is accessible on TNT and that includes Rampage and Dynamite to PPVs like Battle Of The Belts.

If anything, they still haven't obtained other PPVs from AEW such as Road Rager, Homecoming and Blood & Guts something that could rollout on the anticipated sports brand. 

As for other sporting events, SuperSport holds rights to most of them within Africa this includes Formula E, Moto GP and UEFA Champions League. If anything, TNT Sports could be an AEW tailored brand with other content added to the mix.

New Channel Alert: TNT To Get A Dedicated Sports Channel In The UK

The U.K. and Ireland sports joint venture of Warner Bros. Discovery and telecom giant BT Group has unveiled TNT Sports as the name for the premium sports brand that it will launch later this year to bring together the partners’ collection of sports rights under one service.

The unveiling of the new brand name is “another important step towards the launch of a simpler and even more compelling offering for sports fans in the U.K. and Ireland,” said Andrew Georgiou, board member of the joint venture and president and managing Director, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe. “The TNT Sports name is already synonymous with premium live sport in a number of countries around the world and a further sign of the global scale and expertise that Warner Bros. Discovery brings to its partnership with BT.”

Marc Allera, CEO BT consumer division and chairman of the joint venture, said: “We’re delighted with the progress being made on the joint venture. This change marks the next logical step for BT Sport, as well as the broader transformation of our consumer business. Once launched this will become a hugely exciting new premium sports offering for customers in the U.K. and Ireland.”

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The TNT Sports brand wants to reflect “the fan-first approach for which BT Sport has become renowned,” but “the name already has a strong association with premium live sport in other territories and under Warner Bros. Discovery’s family of brands,” the venture partners said. “This includes being home to top-level domestic and European football in a number of countries in Latin America, while live sport has been a longtime staple on the TNT network in the U.S, including the NBA, NHL and NCAA.”

Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Allera emphasized one key goal of the rebranding process. “The thing we want to ensure is minimal customer disruption and maximum excitement,” he said.

Georgiou told reporters about the key thoughts behind the decision to go with the TNT Sports name. “The new brand has to honor the essence of what BT Sport and Eurosport have built in this market,” he explained. “BT Sport in particular, because it has content which is more broadly engaging to the audience here, it has got a broader content proposition. They speak to a large number of local consumers and making sure we don’t lose that was the number one priority. The second part is the brand has to be flexible enough to capture both portfolios. It has to signify an expansion and…change. And the third criterion was that it has to be local. So making sure that there was a clean slate, if you like, for what this is was an important part of the decision-making process.”

For Warner Bros. Discovery, the TNT Sports brand fits into its focus on running a global business. “We are a global content and entertainment business, and we are, through the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, thinking about our business globally and what global scale, strength and capability can bring.” Georgiou also mentioned: “We think there is some value in having global consistency around a sports brand that is synonymous with sports, and premium sports in particular.”

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Bringing together two content portfolios, TNT Sports will “provide one of the most extensive lineups of live sports coverage for fans in the U.K. and Ireland, including the Olympic Games, the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, Premiership Rugby, MotoGP, UFC, Boxing, WWE, tennis Grand Slams, cycling Grand Tours and the winter sports season,” the partners said.

“The clean slate promises to simplify the overall sports experience for fans in the long term,” PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore said about the branding update. But he noted the “numerous challenges in the short term of managing a multi-brand strategy, which the new joint venture is fully aware of and will need to navigate carefully.”