The closure of the GCN+ streaming app in late 2023 set Warner Bros. Discovery again greater than £3m in “restructuring prices”, the corporate’s newest annual accounts reveal.
Masking the interval to the tip of December 2024, and revealed this week, the accounts for WBD Sports activities Holding Restricted present a pre-tax lack of near £38m, virtually all of which is as a result of firm’s dealings with Play Sports activities Community Restricted, the guardian firm of the YouTube channel GCN.
WBD wholly owned Play Sports activities Community till June 2024, when it decreased its shareholding to 30%, and bought a majority share again to its authentic founder Simon Put on and CEO Mia Walter. Alongside the deal, WBD wrote off greater than £33m of debt excellent from Play Sports activities Community, which varieties the lion’s share of the corporate’s losses for 2024.
Additionally within the firm accounts are £3,192,397 of “distinctive administrative bills”, defined as “restructuring prices” particularly associated to the closure of the GCN+ app that WBD “dedicated to pay”.
Launched in early 2021, GCN+ offered reside streaming of highway, mountain bike and cyclo-cross races from around the globe, uninterrupted by adverts, for £6.99 a month, or £39.99 a 12 months. It got here in tandem with the GCN App, which additionally homed greater than 200 documentaries.
On 19 December 2023, lower than three years after its launch, GCN+ and the GCN App had been axed by WBD in a transfer from the corporate to “consolidate its streaming providers”. Biking was then moved to WBD’s Discovery+ streaming platform, and in February 2025, the game was positioned inside a broader sports activities subscription bundle, priced at £30.99 a month – greater than 4 occasions the GCN+ providing.
Play Sports activities Community, GCN’s guardian firm, additionally confronted monetary repercussions from the closure of GCN+.
Writing within the firm’s annual accounts protecting 2024, additionally revealed this week, CEO Walter stated: “Play Sports activities Community Restricted income decreased considerably from £24.0m in 2023 to £10.3m in 2024. This was primarily pushed by the closure of the GCN+ app on the 19 December 2023. This accounted for £9.7m of income in 2023.”
The corporate’s 2023 accounts famous “restructuring prices” of £1.7m associated to the closure of the GCN+ service and app.
In 2024, Play Sports activities Community considerably decreased its pre-tax losses, from virtually £9.5m the earlier 12 months, to £31,204. A part of this got here from a lower in employees prices, to the tune of £6.8m, following the closure of GCN+.
