Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with
Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Speaker 1: Cynthia Littleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My
Speaker 1: guest is J. B. Perette, President CEO of Discovery International.
Speaker 1: While many in the industry are just starting to think
Speaker 1: about programming for global audiences, Discovery has been at it
Speaker 1: for years. Perette oversees more than two channels serving up
Speaker 1: programming in more than fifty languages. He also has experience
Speaker 1: in the direct to consumer arena through his oversight of Discoveries, Eurosport,
Speaker 1: linear and streaming platforms. Perette is a longtime lieutenant of
Speaker 1: Discovery CEO David Zaslow. The two work together at NBC
Speaker 1: for years before reuniting about a decade ago at Discovery.
Speaker 1: In our conversation, Perette shares his enthusiastic thoughts on the
Speaker 1: potential that he sees for the pending merger of Owner
Speaker 1: Media and Discovery. He also weighs in on what events
Speaker 1: like the Olympics mean to subscription businesses, and he talks
Speaker 1: about how Discovery is proceeding with the international rollout of
Speaker 1: its Discovery Plus streamer. Our conversation took place just before
Speaker 1: Discovery became involved in a public battle with the government
Speaker 1: of Poland over efforts to ban non European companies from
Speaker 1: owning media in the country. Discovery owns tv N Group,
Speaker 1: which marks the largest single investment in the nation by
Speaker 1: a US company. Tv N Group includes a news channel,
Speaker 1: TVN twenty four that has been the target of the
Speaker 1: license renewal fight. Discovery has vowed to press its case
Speaker 1: through the existing trade treaty between the US and Poland.
Speaker 1: In a later interview, Herrette told me that Discovery was
Speaker 1: quote watching very closely to defend our business interests against
Speaker 1: regulatory overreach an anti consumer behavior. Herette's thoughts about how
Speaker 1: all TV is local and other insights are coming up
Speaker 1: right to this break. J. B. Parrett, president of the
Speaker 1: CEO of Discovery International, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 1: me today. Great to be here. From your perch, I
Speaker 1: realized that issues about the merger and the deal are
Speaker 1: still are still very much in the pending phase, and
Speaker 1: that you can't talk in keep specifics, but from your
Speaker 1: perch in the international world, based out of London, overseeing
Speaker 1: you know dozens of dozens of channels in all major
Speaker 1: territories of the world. Can you talk about what you
Speaker 1: see as the kind of the thesis for the merger
Speaker 1: shaping up and how it will affect the international markets
Speaker 1: that are so crucial to the global streaming racist these days. Sure,
Speaker 1: thanks to Yeah, so we we I would say Discovery.
Speaker 1: I've had the privilege of being this rule now for
Speaker 1: almost eight years. UH, and it's been an incredible journey. UM.
Speaker 1: But Discovery's journey really in the North Star that has
Speaker 1: been the focus of it for over three decades, has
Speaker 1: been really kind of following the consumer um, which I
Speaker 1: think is as true then as it is now and
Speaker 1: if you think about the evolution. It was one of
Speaker 1: the first companies to UH in the in the early
Speaker 1: nineties kind of move um internationally. It's actually first channel
Speaker 1: was launching the UK, and that was because it thought,
Speaker 1: you know what, this incredible content that we're producing and
Speaker 1: stories are universal and we can tell not them just
Speaker 1: a great American audiences, but we can tell them to
Speaker 1: audiences around the world. And so they branched out, followed
Speaker 1: the customer and took the content around the world over
Speaker 1: the last three decades. Then secondly, that following the customer
Speaker 1: led to the innovation of saying, okay, well we're doing
Speaker 1: this in pay tell of vision. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, there are many markets around the world
Speaker 1: where pay television was underpenetrated, and so, again led by
Speaker 1: the customer, people said, well, why don't we launch some
Speaker 1: free to air channels and broaden the reach of our
Speaker 1: content and our stories to more customers. And so we
Speaker 1: are now the second largest broadcaster in Europe as an example,
Speaker 1: UM through our freed air channels across Nordics, Poland, Italy,
Speaker 1: UK Spain, Germany. Uh and so uh now we're in
Speaker 1: sort of the next phase, which is obviously in this
Speaker 1: director consumer world, is there are increasing number of customers
Speaker 1: that obviously want to access content on on demand and
Speaker 1: a direct consumer fashion. And we've embarked on that journey
Speaker 1: with Discovery, plus the Warner team obviously has been in
Speaker 1: that journey with HBO Max uh and uh. So where
Speaker 1: that's the next chapter that we're leaning into heavily. And
Speaker 1: I think when you look at those two companies coming together,
Speaker 1: one of the things that is true about this director
Speaker 1: consumer world is people want choice and they want simplicity.
Speaker 1: Uh and UH. If you see obviously the the fairly
Speaker 1: wide number of different streaming services that are available now.
Speaker 1: I think people are starting to say, we'll wait a second.
Speaker 1: You know, it would be great if, rather than forcing
Speaker 1: the customer to understand what show is where, if more
Speaker 1: of it were somehow more easily accessible. And I think
Speaker 1: part of what is the incredible potential of this, these
Speaker 1: two companies coming together is the unparalleled breadth of content
Speaker 1: offering across all genres, whether it be lifestyle, factual UH,
Speaker 1: some of the greatest traumas, UH, comedy, UM kids documentaries.
Speaker 1: This is a powerhouse of unparalleled content offering. And what
Speaker 1: we've got to work on here with the team as
Speaker 1: we go through the process is figuring out how do
Speaker 1: we take those that incredible offering and bring it to
Speaker 1: customers in a simple UH and compelling fashion. UM. But
Speaker 1: we think we have a incredible lineup of stories and
Speaker 1: genres that HE is unmatched in the industry, and we're
Speaker 1: excited to bring that to market just as soon as
Speaker 1: we can, obviously get through the regulatory approval process and
Speaker 1: and operationalize it. What have you learned, even in small levels,
Speaker 1: even in some smaller markets, about how you know how
Speaker 1: customers embrace streaming, how they embrace streaming versus linear and
Speaker 1: how that changes what they're willing to pay for and
Speaker 1: how they consume. We obviously have been at this for
Speaker 1: several decades, and I'd say are the leading global media company, UH,
Speaker 1: And so we have a lot of lessons. I think
Speaker 1: Number one is it's not a one size fits all UM.
Speaker 1: And that sounds simple, but the reality is, as I
Speaker 1: always say internally, UH, the idea of international as a
Speaker 1: single word is the greatest misnomer. UM. You know, this
Speaker 1: is a collection of very different, very diverse, very rich
Speaker 1: markets UM. Uh, and everyone is a little bit different.
Speaker 1: Number one. Number two is UM you know. I think
Speaker 1: what we see as part of our differentiation also compared
Speaker 1: to others in the industry, is we've been at this
Speaker 1: in producing not just great US content that obviously travels,
Speaker 1: but we've been producing great local content in many of
Speaker 1: the biggest markets there for decades. And so we have
Speaker 1: a very unique combination of great international and US created
Speaker 1: UH stories that travel and great local stories. And that
Speaker 1: combination of great international and great local to US is
Speaker 1: sort of the secret sauce that differentiates UM. A Discovery
Speaker 1: Warner proposition, uh, compared to some of the others that
Speaker 1: may be more just dominant US lead content offerings, and
Speaker 1: the reality is to scale and a lot of these markets,
Speaker 1: the US content is you know, very valuable, and that
Speaker 1: d libraries incredibly valuable, and in the genres traditional genres
Speaker 1: of discovery, UH, a lot of those stories are truly universal,
Speaker 1: which is one of the great things that has allowed
Speaker 1: us to expand and become the leading global media company.
Speaker 1: Is you know, comedy isn't, as an example, is a
Speaker 1: lot harder because comedy is much more national, much more local, uh,
Speaker 1: and so doesn't necessarily travel as well. But stories about adventures, survival, lifestyle, um,
Speaker 1: you know, uh, true crime, even you know, these are
Speaker 1: genres that that are truly stories that resonate everywhere, and
Speaker 1: so that is one of the great uniqueness. So not
Speaker 1: one size fits all. You gotta tailor to the market,
Speaker 1: and you've gotta have infrastructure on the ground. And I
Speaker 1: think one of the other things that we've done over
Speaker 1: these years is we've got people and teams that know
Speaker 1: the local markets, that know the marketing app channels, and
Speaker 1: know the production communities are producing stories um and close
Speaker 1: to the greatest storytellers and all these markets. And we
Speaker 1: are in a period also where content is traveling and
Speaker 1: actually real credit to Netflix on this one, which is
Speaker 1: really sort of flatten the world from a consumption standpoint
Speaker 1: of international global content UM and great stories can come
Speaker 1: from anywhere, and we think that again on this journey.
Speaker 1: We're incredibly well positioned because we have decades worth of
Speaker 1: storytelling at the international and local at the U S
Speaker 1: and local international markets level, and we're looking forward to
Speaker 1: bring that together as we roll out Discovery Plus and
Speaker 1: as we figure out how best to bring this to
Speaker 1: market in the in the Discovery Warner context. As the
Speaker 1: delayed Tokyo Games get underway, how do you feel about
Speaker 1: your investment in them and how you know, especially under
Speaker 1: the kind of extraordinary circumstances that the Tokyo Games are
Speaker 1: gonna unfold, how do you feel about that as an
Speaker 1: investment for Eurosport? Right now, the Olympics are truly the
Speaker 1: greatest event in the world um and then there's no
Speaker 1: there's no bigger event in in media on a global
Speaker 1: scale in the Olympics and the history of the Olympics,
Speaker 1: if you look back over the last several ones, is
Speaker 1: every games has a different narrative challenge building up to
Speaker 1: the Games, whether it be doping or you know, the
Speaker 1: preparations and the issues around real prep, and you know
Speaker 1: Athens had a lot of the prep issues. And one
Speaker 1: thing that's been consistent, a lot of that conversation happens
Speaker 1: building up to the games, a lot of noise, a
Speaker 1: lot of questions. Obviously, this one is not immune to
Speaker 1: that either, with this unique COVID environment that we're all
Speaker 1: fighting through. But the same one very important rule is
Speaker 1: true in every single one of those cases. The minute
Speaker 1: the flame gets lit, which as you said, has just
Speaker 1: happened today, the focus turns to the athletes and the
Speaker 1: incredible stories of these people who have persevered, particularly in
Speaker 1: these last two years amidst you know, all the prep
Speaker 1: they did, the postponement at retraining, retraining in very difficult situations. Obviously,
Speaker 1: and while yes, the current one will be unique in
Speaker 1: terms of obviously no crowds and limitations, but the flip
Speaker 1: side is the great thing about the Olympics, which is
Speaker 1: these unbelievable stories of human achievement UH and perseverance and
Speaker 1: UH are going to be more true than ever in
Speaker 1: the Tokyo Games and so UM we're excited to bring
Speaker 1: those stories to the all the European viewers. We obviously
Speaker 1: will be the home of the Olympics across all of
Speaker 1: Europe UM effective now, and we will be providing UH
Speaker 1: and LEANING in as we've launched Discovery Plus UH in
Speaker 1: a handful of European markets. UH. The the only place
Speaker 1: where you'll be able to get every minute of the
Speaker 1: Olympics live will be on Discovery Plus in the UK,
Speaker 1: the Nordics, Netherlands, Italy, UM, UH and and UH. And
Speaker 1: then in markets where we haven't yet launched on Eurosport Player,
Speaker 1: we'll have every moment in the Olympics live. And so
Speaker 1: we have a unique proposition that we're excited to bring
Speaker 1: the fans across Europe UM and we we're we're very
Speaker 1: confident that it will continue to be a great event
Speaker 1: that will unify the world and the frankly, the world
Speaker 1: right now needs great stories to bring us together and
Speaker 1: that show the resilience and the accomplishments of of humanity.
Speaker 1: So the positives I think is meant to be the
Speaker 1: sort of hallmark of of of these Tokyo Games at
Speaker 1: these critical time. UM Sports, as you said, is a
Speaker 1: complicated business. UM. But the flip side is, UH, what
Speaker 1: we've also done as you've seen this so slight change
Speaker 1: in our evolution is as we're rolling out Discovery Plus,
Speaker 1: Sports and Entertainment, we'll sit together in the product UM
Speaker 1: And just to be clear, Eurosport is going to be
Speaker 1: integrated into the Discovery Plus platform. That's right. So it
Speaker 1: are in the markets I describe before, it already is
Speaker 1: essentially rolled into the Discovery Plus offering, so you can
Speaker 1: have entertainment and you can have entertainment and sports. And
Speaker 1: as we roll out Discovery Plus and more markets, the
Speaker 1: same will be true across Europe, where you'll be basically
Speaker 1: having one product. Back to the conversation we had earlier
Speaker 1: about simplicity and choice, UH, that's kind of our north star,
Speaker 1: focused on the customer and the consumer interests, and we
Speaker 1: think the simplicity and choice and bringing that together in
Speaker 1: one product in one offering and allowing people to actually
Speaker 1: enjoy the best of entertainment and real life entertainment, but
Speaker 1: also be able to actually watch some of the premier
Speaker 1: sporting events in the world, all within the same product offering,
Speaker 1: UH is ever more compelling and so UM we're going
Speaker 1: to continue to lean into it. We have a number
Speaker 1: of different sports rights across Europe and we're into we're
Speaker 1: really folk based on rolling the great eurosport and sports
Speaker 1: content overall into the Discovery Plus offering for consumers. So
Speaker 1: you have to be I mean the timing of these
Speaker 1: delayed games. At the time that you're rolling out Discovery Plus,
Speaker 1: you have Olympics as a very strong you know, almost
Speaker 1: your your burker is the Olympics rights that are Can
Speaker 1: you talk about how how you have sliced up those rights?
Speaker 1: How are you presenting them on Eurosport So um, we
Speaker 1: obviously have certain obligations with the IOC for a certain
Speaker 1: amount of free to air coverage, which we do either
Speaker 1: on our own channels or with sub licensed partners in
Speaker 1: individual markets. UM. But as I mentioned earlier, the key thing,
Speaker 1: UH will be that really Discovery Plus and Eurosport Player
Speaker 1: in the markets were Discovery Plus is not yet available,
Speaker 1: will be the only place that you can get every
Speaker 1: single minute live. So if you know there's over three
Speaker 1: thousand live event hours uh of the Olympics in the summer,
Speaker 1: um and the only place where you can literally if
Speaker 1: you're a fan of the sports and you don't want
Speaker 1: to necessarily figure out, you know, what's on here, what's
Speaker 1: on there? You know you through the Discovery Plus subscription
Speaker 1: or U Sport Player subscription, you don't have to think
Speaker 1: of any of that. It will be personalized, tailored to you,
Speaker 1: and you have every minute of the games which you
Speaker 1: can access um live through uh either either service. And
Speaker 1: as we get to Beijing, which is obviously in the
Speaker 1: winter and six months away and has been prepared for Paris,
Speaker 1: which will be a huge homecoming of the Games across Europe,
Speaker 1: and by that point in time, we obviously will be
Speaker 1: much further along in terms of rolling out Discovery Plus
Speaker 1: or whatever. The subsequent product at that point will be
Speaker 1: um we uh we. We can't wait to use this
Speaker 1: incredible event to bring more and more people into the
Speaker 1: tent and into the fold and experience not just the
Speaker 1: games but all the other content that will come with it,
Speaker 1: uh uniquely on on our Discovery class and streaming platform.
Speaker 1: And do you there, the excitement level and the buzz
Speaker 1: and the traction is enough to get you the sponsorship
Speaker 1: and they get the traction in the revenue generating areas
Speaker 1: that you need to justify the rights of fees like
Speaker 1: you feel like this has been a good investment for Eurosport. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I mean it is. There's look, as we were talking
Speaker 1: about it's it is. Sports is an expensive proposition by
Speaker 1: its nature, but it's also a beacon, uh and a
Speaker 1: as David Zaslow says, in terms of, you know, thinking
Speaker 1: about stuff in the subscription world where people will pay
Speaker 1: for it before they'll pay for dinner, sports is at
Speaker 1: the very top of that pyramid because it draws a
Speaker 1: passion and an interest that is almost like nothing else
Speaker 1: in the world. And so it's a very powerful tool. Um.
Speaker 1: And we're excited to have the pre eminent event uh
Speaker 1: for Tokyo, for Beijing and then on to Paris to
Speaker 1: help us on this journey continue to scale and get
Speaker 1: Discovery Plus in front of more and more audience and
Speaker 1: consumers over the next you know, two or three years,
Speaker 1: how much you talked about the need for tailoring and
Speaker 1: customizing for individual markets. I imagine that you're doing that
Speaker 1: for the within the Discovery Plus platform as well. Or
Speaker 1: is that more of a uniform offering now it's all
Speaker 1: very customized because Uh, at the end of the day, again,
Speaker 1: in every market, we have a combination of what will
Speaker 1: be consistent is sort of the deep and rich library
Speaker 1: of US LED content will be available on all the
Speaker 1: different platforms. But what is different in every market is
Speaker 1: UH the other part of the equation, which is the
Speaker 1: great local content. And so whether you're you know, in
Speaker 1: UH in Norway and all of our great Norwegian series
Speaker 1: and comedies, etcetera that will complement the service, or in
Speaker 1: Italy with all the great Italian content and the years
Speaker 1: of of US being the number three broadcaster there and
Speaker 1: being able to provide all the content provide war. If
Speaker 1: you're in Brazil UH and you have all of our
Speaker 1: local Brazilian content that we commission UH, it will be
Speaker 1: a a. And then again, sports obviously is a layer
Speaker 1: on top. So it's not a uniform global offering other
Speaker 1: than the kind of core elements of it. In terms
Speaker 1: of the US LED UH factual programming. UH is consistent
Speaker 1: UH generally everywhere in terms of its offering, but it's
Speaker 1: then supplemented with incredibly strong local entertainment content, local factual
Speaker 1: content and sports in select markets don't go anywhere. We'll
Speaker 1: be right back with more from Discovery International CEO J. B. Perrett,
Speaker 1: and we're back with more from Discovery International CEO J B.
Speaker 1: Per Where do you see either areas for expansion for
Speaker 1: you or areas markets where you see real growth? Where
Speaker 1: do you see opportunity right now? Internationally? I think there's
Speaker 1: a couple of different areas that if you think about it,
Speaker 1: UM there are still as a percentage, you know, we
Speaker 1: think of the US UM and and pay TV penetration
Speaker 1: in the US, which obviously had hit you at its
Speaker 1: peak five you know, almost ninety and has obviously come
Speaker 1: down a bit, but streaming is sort of a different
Speaker 1: version of it's still pay television in outside of outside
Speaker 1: of the US, there are many many big markets, take
Speaker 1: Italy as an example, where uh the entry price of
Speaker 1: traditional package of PayTV yet sort of forty dollars plus
Speaker 1: or fifty dollars plus has uh capped the the potential
Speaker 1: and where penetration of that kind of an offering has been,
Speaker 1: you know, not more than at its peak. And so
Speaker 1: you have of the audience and the customer base that
Speaker 1: UM just never found that compelling enough and the price
Speaker 1: point may be too high as an entry price point
Speaker 1: for them to experiment in some of the premium content,
Speaker 1: and so our ability to take our product offering and
Speaker 1: sort of this uh in this you know, five to
Speaker 1: seven dollar price range um uh and bring it to
Speaker 1: market with partners like Telecom Italia the mobile partner like
Speaker 1: a Vota phone UM and bring their enormous mobile bases
Speaker 1: which are you know, in some cases ten x the
Speaker 1: size of the traditional PayTV universe. We have an enormously
Speaker 1: bigger serviceable addressable market number one and number two, we
Speaker 1: have an tree price point and a package uh and
Speaker 1: a service offering that is way more compelling at a
Speaker 1: price point that's way more attractive for people to experiment
Speaker 1: and get in with than historically what was priced that
Speaker 1: you know, again ten x higher than where we are.
Speaker 1: So for us, that's probably the single biggest opportunity is
Speaker 1: getting more people uh exposed to our content with a
Speaker 1: great new product um and user experience that they can
Speaker 1: you know, enjoy uh on their own schedule and on
Speaker 1: their own time UH and uh, and working with partners
Speaker 1: who can help deliver that too. Uh. You know, hundreds
Speaker 1: of millions of more users than we ever were historically
Speaker 1: when we were you know, sort of stuck in the
Speaker 1: higher priced PayTV packages and bundles, which are still compelling
Speaker 1: by the way for a certain customers segment. So I know,
Speaker 1: oftentimes this is sort of made into a debate of
Speaker 1: you know, does pay TV die and streaming win. Our
Speaker 1: view is look over the decades when pay television originally
Speaker 1: came out in the eighties, people, and then in the
Speaker 1: nineties started to get traction, people settling broadcast is gonna die,
Speaker 1: and broadcast is still alive and and well, and yes,
Speaker 1: audiences just shifted, but it's still a pretty healthy business
Speaker 1: and has made you know, a ton of money over
Speaker 1: the years, um. And so for us, it's not about
Speaker 1: the death of one and the survival of another, but
Speaker 1: it's about geography shifts, and we like this idea of
Speaker 1: being able to superserve customers, some of whom will want
Speaker 1: to continue to watch linear channels. Maybe those are slightly
Speaker 1: you know, an older demographic, UM, but we don't want
Speaker 1: to exclude them. And so the linear channels are still
Speaker 1: important in that respect. H and free to air is
Speaker 1: still valuable from that respect and gives us also a
Speaker 1: great marketing and promotional channel to drive these other products.
Speaker 1: Pay TV is still vibrant and healthy. And then we
Speaker 1: have this whole new uh customer segment that does want
Speaker 1: UH have access on a direct a consumer basis and
Speaker 1: a more flexible uh kind of ability to choose smaller
Speaker 1: packages of their liking. And that's a whole new customer
Speaker 1: segment for us to go after, and frankly a bigger
Speaker 1: one given the scale that we just talked about of
Speaker 1: of people who might be interested in that at that
Speaker 1: price point versus the higher price you know, bigger bundles.
Speaker 1: Um JP. Tell me a little bit about yourself. How
Speaker 1: did you get into the business of international television. Where
Speaker 1: did you grow up? So? I I I'm I'm a hybrid.
Speaker 1: So my father's French, my mother's American, UM, hence the
Speaker 1: accents American, and the name is French. UM. I grew
Speaker 1: up in uh in New York mostly New York City,
Speaker 1: was born and raised in New York City. UM in Manhattan,
Speaker 1: which people sort have always sometimes scratched theirhead and didn't
Speaker 1: realize that people actually do grow up and live in Manhattan.
Speaker 1: Are born and raised in Manhattan. Uh. And my father
Speaker 1: is from Brittany in the northwest part of France, and
Speaker 1: so I have very strong ties there and it's about
Speaker 1: everything summer of my life. Uh there Uh, so I'm
Speaker 1: sort of by I'm a different Bi coastal uh, East
Speaker 1: coast and and and French coast um. UH. And I
Speaker 1: I came in um to the media business in in
Speaker 1: two thousand UM, starting at NBC in business development and
Speaker 1: then has spent the last you know, over two decades
Speaker 1: of working here. And I've had the great privilege early
Speaker 1: on in my career at NBC of coming uh into
Speaker 1: contact with David Zaslow UH and UH have been a
Speaker 1: huge fan and he's been an enormous uh not just
Speaker 1: UH you know, mentor and UH guide, but somebody I've
Speaker 1: learned a ton from and obviously respected from very early
Speaker 1: on and had the great privilege of working with him
Speaker 1: for the last two decades UM. And so UH that's
Speaker 1: been a huge obviously part of my journey. UH. And
Speaker 1: I took this job and I joined Discovery in two
Speaker 1: thousand and eleven, UH and took this job in two
Speaker 1: thousand fourteen. UM. And then one other note I'd say
Speaker 1: is which I think back to this sort of evolution
Speaker 1: of the industries, you know, back in two thousand six
Speaker 1: when David and I actually when David was still at NBC,
Speaker 1: we had just finished actually the the the Torino Games Olympics,
Speaker 1: and there was this little thing called YouTube that was
Speaker 1: starting to take off in a major way and had
Speaker 1: taken off with a lot of clips from that time
Speaker 1: Saturday Night Live exactly but clearly showed the appetite and
Speaker 1: the desire from the consumers to access this stuff. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Google bought it for a billion six I
Speaker 1: think it was at the time, and David and I
Speaker 1: looked at each other and said, you know, why can't
Speaker 1: we do this? Um, And that was the beginning of
Speaker 1: our conversations around trying to create what then later became Hulu. Uh.
Speaker 1: And we went around and talked to all the different
Speaker 1: partners and it turned out that Fox and some of
Speaker 1: the others have been talking about something similar. And you know,
Speaker 1: despite the fact that media joint ventures have a graveyard
Speaker 1: that is very, very large. UM, we thought it was
Speaker 1: compelling enough that we should try and pull it off.
Speaker 1: And you know, obviously I think two lessons there is
Speaker 1: number one. We're always focused on, you know, uh, if
Speaker 1: the consumer, if there's a consumer demand and interest, you
Speaker 1: gotta need to try and figure out how you fulfill it, because,
Speaker 1: particularly in the digital age, if you don't fulfill that
Speaker 1: somebody else will and it may not be legitimate um
Speaker 1: in many cases. And so being really kind of consumer
Speaker 1: focused was an early indicator there. Uh. And second point
Speaker 1: is that you know it's an evolution still because when
Speaker 1: I think back to we did that, we finally made
Speaker 1: the joint venture happen and launched in two thousand seven,
Speaker 1: you know, that's approaching fifteen years ago. And you know,
Speaker 1: so much has evolved in the fifteen years, but fifteen
Speaker 1: years a long time, and yet I feel like we're
Speaker 1: still in the infancy of this of this new era.
Speaker 1: And despite the fact that people were talking about streaming
Speaker 1: wars and all this, you know, we've got there's a
Speaker 1: long way to go still in the evolution. And when
Speaker 1: you think about it, particularly on a global level, not
Speaker 1: just a US lens, but a global lens, there are
Speaker 1: plenty of territories where it's just it's the early innings
Speaker 1: of this streaming game. And uh, I must say, I
Speaker 1: can't wait. When you look at the lineup and the
Speaker 1: content offering and the potential of what the Warner and
Speaker 1: Discovery combination can bring. Um, you know, I think there's
Speaker 1: without question we can be one of the top three
Speaker 1: leaders in this streaming space over time as these two
Speaker 1: companies come together, and I think that's the incredibly exciting
Speaker 1: potential that that we're getting more and more excited about
Speaker 1: every day. Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave us
Speaker 1: a review at Apple Podcasts. We love to hear from listeners,
Speaker 1: and be sure to tune in next week for another
Speaker 1: episode of Strictly Business