MTB World Cup promoter and WorldTour broadcaster WBD may be sold to Netflix
Streaming giant Netflix emerged Friday as the winner of a three-way race to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, another massive media conglomerate that's notable in cycling for its promotion of the Mountain Bike World Cup series and its coverage rights to many top WorldTour races across much of Europe and the US.
Through its HBO Max arm, WBD largely owns the broadcast distribution rights to the men's and women's WorldTour races in Europe, and a smaller share of them in its home US market (WBD also owns a majority share in FloBikes, which owns rights to a separate set of races). Netflix bid US$83 billion in a deal that beat out rivals Paramount and Comcast. WBD's cable TV division, comprising channels like CNN, TNT and others, will be spun out as a separate company, Discovery Global.
But don't expect any immediate changes in the streaming universe; the deal won't close until after the separation of Discovery Global, which is expected to take until the third quarter of 2026. The deal also has to pass regulatory scrutiny in the US, and could be subject to lawsuits attempting to block it.
