Shares jump 13% after reorganizing statement

Follows course taken by Comcast's new spin-off business

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Challenges seen in selling debt-laden linear TV networks

(New throughout, adds information, background, comments from industry insiders and experts, updates share costs)

By Dawn Chmielewski, Deborah Mary Sophia and Aditya Soni

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery on Thursday chose to separate its decreasing cable television businesses such as CNN from streaming and studio operations such as Max, preparing for a potential sale or spinoff of its TV company as more cable television customers cut the cable.

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 companies are thinking about alternatives for fading cable television TV organizations, a long time money cow where incomes are deteriorating as millions of consumers accept streaming video.

Comcast last month revealed plans to split the majority of its NBCUniversal cable networks into a brand-new public company. The new company would be well capitalized and placed to obtain other cable television networks if the industry combines, one source told Reuters.

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

"We strongly think there is capacity for fairly large synergies if WBD's direct networks were integrated with Comcast SpinCo," wrote Ehrlich, using the market term for conventional tv.

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

Under the new structure for Warner Bros Discovery, the cable TV company consisting of TNT, Animal Planet and CNN will be housed in a system called Global Linear Networks.

Streaming platforms Max and Discovery+ will be under a different department along with film studios, including Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema.

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

"Streaming won as a habits," stated Jonathan Miller, president 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 business structure will separate growing studio and streaming properties from successful but diminishing cable television TV business, offering a clearer financial investment photo and likely setting the phase for a sale or spin-off of the cable unit.

The media veteran and adviser anticipated Paramount and others may take a similar course.

CEO David Zaslav, a veteran deal-maker who led Discovery through its acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive before acquiring the even larger target, AT&T's WarnerMedia, is positioning the company for its next chess move, composed MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman.

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

Zaslav signified that situation 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 industry combination.

Zaslav had actually engaged in merger talks with Paramount late last year, though a deal never ever materialized, according to a regulatory filing last month.

Others injected a note of care, noting Warner Bros Discovery brings $40.4 billion in financial obligation.

"The structure change would make it easier for WBD to offer off its linear TV networks," eMarketer analyst Ross Benes stated, referring to the cable television TV business. "However, finding a buyer will be tough. The networks owe money and have no signs of growth."

In August, Warner Bros Discovery documented the value of its TV possessions by over $9 billion due to uncertainty around costs from cable and satellite distributors and sports betting rights renewals.

Today, the media company announced a multi-year deal increasing the overall fees Comcast will pay to disperse Warner Bros Discovery's networks.

Warner Bros Discovery is sports betting the Comcast contract, together with an offer reached this year with cable and broadband service provider Charter, will be a design template for future negotiations with distributors. That might help support rates 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)