Discovery will merge with WarnerMedia, but not right away. That delay makes things difficult

News broke in May that AT&T would be spinning off WarnerMedia to Discovery and that David Zaslav would run the combined media empire, but that deal isn’t closing any time soon. The merger is subject to federal review, which could take a year or more. That leaves WarnerMedia awkwardly situated and without clear leadership in the midst of the streaming wars.