Shares jump 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, adds details, background, remarks from industry experts and analysts, 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 TV companies such as CNN from streaming and studio operations such as Max, preparing for a possible sale or spinoff of its TV business as more cable customers cut the cable.

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

Media business are thinking about options for fading cable TV businesses, a long time golden goose where revenues are wearing down as millions of customers embrace streaming video.

Comcast last month revealed strategies to split the majority of its NBCUniversal cable television networks into a brand-new public company. The new company would be well capitalized and placed to acquire other cable television networks if the market consolidates, one source informed Reuters.

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

"We highly believe there is potential for fairly sizable synergies if WBD's linear networks were integrated with Comcast SpinCo," wrote Ehrlich, utilizing the market term for standard television.

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

Under the new structure for Warner Bros Discovery, the cable television TV company including TNT, Animal Planet and CNN will be housed in an unit called Global Linear Networks.

Streaming platforms Max and Discovery+ will be under a different division in addition to movie studios, including Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema.

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

"Streaming won as a habits," stated Jonathan Miller, primary executive of digital media investment business Integrated Media. "Now, it's winning as a business."

Brightcove CEO Marc DeBevoise said Warner Bros Discovery's brand-new business structure will separate growing studio and streaming assets from rewarding but diminishing cable TV organization, giving a clearer financial investment photo and most likely setting the stage for a sale or spin-off of the cable unit.

The media veteran and advisor forecasted Paramount and others may take a similar path.

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

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

Zaslav signified that scenario during Warner Bros Discovery's financier call last month. He said he anticipated President-elect Donald Trump's administration would be friendlier to deal-making, opening the door to media industry debt consolidation.

Zaslav had participated in merger talks with Paramount late last year, though a deal never ever emerged, according to a regulative filing last month.

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

"The structure modification would make it simpler for WBD to offer off its linear TV networks," eMarketer analyst Ross Benes stated, describing the cable television TV service. "However, discovering a buyer will be tough. The networks owe money and have no signs of growth."

In August, Warner Bros Discovery jotted down the value of its TV properties by over $9 billion due to unpredictability around costs from cable and satellite suppliers and sports betting rights renewals.

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

Warner Bros Discovery is sports betting the Comcast arrangement, together with an offer reached this year with cable television and broadband provider Charter, will be a template for future negotiations with distributors. That could 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)