Shares dive 13% after restructuring statement

Follows path taken by Comcast's new spin-off company

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Challenges seen in selling debt-laden linear TV networks

(New throughout, includes information, background, remarks from industry insiders and analysts, updates share prices)

By Dawn Chmielewski, Deborah Mary Sophia and Aditya Soni

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery on Thursday decided to separate its declining cable organizations such as CNN from streaming and studio operations such as Max, preparing for a possible sale or spinoff of its TV company as more cable subscribers cut the cord.

Shares of Warner jumped after the business stated the new structure would be more deal friendly and it expected to complete the split by the middle of 2025. Warner shares closed at $12.49, up more than 15%.

Media business are considering alternatives for fading cable television businesses, a long time golden goose where incomes are deteriorating as millions of consumers embrace streaming video.

Comcast last month revealed strategies to split the majority of its NBCUniversal cable networks into a new public business. The brand-new business would be well capitalized and positioned to obtain other cable networks if the market combines, one source informed Reuters.

Bank of America research study analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich composed that Warner Bros Discovery's cable tv possessions are a "really logical partner" for Comcast's brand-new spin-off company.

"We highly think there is capacity for fairly substantial synergies if WBD's direct networks were combined with Comcast SpinCo," wrote Ehrlich, using the market term for standard tv.

"Further, we believe WBD's standalone streaming and studio possessions would be an attractive takeover target."

Under the brand-new structure for Warner Bros Discovery, the cable television TV service including TNT, Animal Planet and CNN will be housed in a system called Global Linear Networks.

Streaming platforms Max and Discovery+ will be under a separate department together with film studios, consisting of Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema.

The restructuring shows an inflection point for the media market, as financial investments in streaming services such as Warner Bros Discovery's Max are lastly paying off.

"Streaming won as a behavior," stated Jonathan Miller, chief executive of digital media investment firm Integrated Media. "Now, it's winning as a company."

Brightcove CEO Marc DeBevoise said Warner Bros Discovery's brand-new corporate structure will distinguish growing studio and streaming properties from lucrative but shrinking cable company, offering a clearer investment photo and likely setting the phase for a sale or spin-off of the cable television unit.

The media veteran and advisor anticipated Paramount and others may take a comparable path.

CEO David Zaslav, a veteran deal-maker who led Discovery through its acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive before obtaining the even larger target, AT&T's WarnerMedia, is positioning the business for its next chess relocation, wrote MoffettNathanson expert Robert Fishman.

"The concern is not whether more pieces will be moved or knocked off the board, or if further consolidation will take place-- it refers who is the purchaser and who is the seller," wrote Fishman.

Zaslav signified that scenario throughout Warner Bros Discovery's investor call last month. He said he prepared for President-elect Donald Trump's administration would be friendlier to deal-making, opening the door to media market consolidation.

Zaslav had taken part in merger talks with Paramount late in 2015, though an offer never emerged, according to a regulative filing last month.

Others injected a note of care, noting Warner Bros Discovery carries $40.4 billion in debt.

"The structure change would make it much easier for WBD to sell its direct TV networks," eMarketer expert Ross Benes said, referring to the cable television company. "However, finding a buyer will be tough. The networks are in financial obligation and have no indications of growth."

In August, Warner Bros Discovery documented the worth of its TV assets by over $9 billion due to uncertainty around charges from cable television and satellite suppliers and sports betting rights renewals.

Today, the media business announced a multi-year offer increasing the total charges Comcast will pay to disperse Warner Bros Discovery's networks.

Warner Bros Discovery is wagering the Comcast agreement, together with an offer reached this year with cable and broadband supplier Charter, will be a template for future settlements with distributors. That could assist stabilize prices for the domestic pay TV market. (Reporting by Deborah Sophia and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru, Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Arun Koyyur, Keith Weir and David Gregorio)