Shares dive 13% after reorganizing statement

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

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Challenges seen in selling debt-laden direct TV networks

(New throughout, adds details, background, remarks from market experts and analysts, updates share rates)

By Dawn Chmielewski, Deborah Mary Sophia and Aditya Soni

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery on Thursday decided to separate its declining cable television TV organizations 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 customers cut the cord.

Shares of Warner leapt after the company said the brand-new structure would be more deal friendly and it expected to finish the split by the middle of 2025. Warner shares closed at $12.49, up more than 15%.

Media business are considering options for fading cable television TV organizations, a long time golden goose where profits are eroding as millions of customers embrace streaming video.

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

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

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

"Further, our company 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 business 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 separate division together with movie studios, consisting of Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema.

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

"Streaming won as a behavior," stated Jonathan Miller, president of digital media investment firm Integrated Media. "Now, it's winning as an organization."

Brightcove CEO Marc DeBevoise stated Warner Bros Discovery's new corporate structure will differentiate growing studio and streaming properties from profitable but diminishing cable television business, offering a clearer financial investment photo and likely setting the phase for a sale or spin-off of the cable system.

The media veteran and adviser forecasted Paramount and others may take a comparable course.

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

"The concern is not whether more pieces will be moved around or knocked off the board, or if further debt consolidation will happen-- it is a matter of who is the purchaser and who is the seller," wrote Fishman.

Zaslav signified that situation throughout 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 market debt consolidation.

Zaslav had taken part in merger talks with Paramount late in 2015, though an offer never ever emerged, 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 simpler for WBD to sell its direct TV networks," eMarketer expert Ross Benes stated, describing the cable television TV service. "However, discovering a purchaser will be difficult. The networks are in financial obligation and have no indications of development."

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

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

Warner Bros Discovery is wagering the Comcast agreement, together with a deal reached this year with cable and broadband provider Charter, will be a template for future settlements with distributors. That might help stabilize pricing 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)