Warner Bros Discovery Inc

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We invest significant resources to acquire and maintain licenses to produce sports programming and there can be no assurance that we will continue to be successful in our efforts to obtain or maintain licenses to recurring sports events or recoup our investment when the content is distributed.

Previous report

We face significant competition to acquire and maintain licenses to sports programming, which leads to significant expenditure of funds and resources. As a result of an increasing number of market entrants in the programming space, we have seen upward pressure on programming costs in recent years, particularly in connection with the licensing and acquisition of sports content from third parties. We may also be impacted by such upward pressures driven by increasing investment in programming by competitors. In certain international markets, regulations concerning content quotas or content investment requirements may be a further factor driving increasing programming costs. In addition, businesses, including ours, that offer multiple services or that may be vertically integrated and offer both video distribution and programming content, may face closer regulatory review from the competition authorities in the countries in which we currently have operations. If our distributors have to pay higher rates to other holders of sports broadcasting rights, it might be difficult for us to negotiate higher rates for the distribution of our networks. This difficulty could be amplified if we are unable to obtain or maintain licenses for sports programming that we can bundle with our other programming for distribution. There can be no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully in the future against existing or new competitors to obtain and/or maintain licenses to recurring sports events. For example, the NBA has declined to renew its existing license with the Company to distribute NBA games, which will expire at the end of the 2024-2025 NBA season. The Company is currently engaged in a legal dispute with the NBA regarding the license. If the license ultimately is not renewed, such nonrenewal could limit our ability to negotiate higher rates for the distribution of our networks. Increasing competition for programming licenses and regulatory review from competition authorities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Previous report

There can also be no assurance that we will recoup our investment in sports programming, including realizing any anticipated benefits of our joint ventures, or that revenue from our content distribution agreements will exceed our costs for the rights for sports programming, as well as the other costs of producing and distributing the programming. The impact of these licenses on our results of operations over the term of the licenses depends on a number of factors, including the strength of advertising markets and subscription levels and rates for programming. Our success with sports programming is highly dependent on consumer acceptance of this content and the size of our viewing audience. If viewers do not find our sports programming content acceptable, we could see low viewership, which could lead to low distribution and advertising revenues and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.