WBD is taking playout inhouse and moving it from the UK to the US, leading to redundancies at Red Bee Media
Red Bee Media has lost the playout contract for TNT Sports in the UK. Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) plans to move playout operations for its UK TNT Sports channels to inhouse operations in Atlanta at the start of August 2025.
All staff working on the TNT account at Red Bee Media – which Broadcast Tech believes is around 40-50 freelancers and Red Bee Media staff – face redundancy.
Broadcast Tech understands WBD has been considering the future for playout of TNT channels in the UK for several years, since shortly after the joint venture with BT Sport to create TNT Sports in the UK in the first place.
The playout of BT Sport was handled by Red Bee, and WBD inherited that setup. However, WBD has inhouse playout capability in the US, and while reviewing how it operates its channels in the UK and globally, it became clear a move to take playout inhouse would be in its best interests.
Part of the decision was also influenced by how the requirements for playout of the TNT channels have changed in the years since BT Sport was in operation.
Broadcast Tech understands the playout changes won’t directly impact any WBD staff in the UK, and that the proposed changes are unrelated to the recent structural changes at WBD, which were announced this month.
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