Shares dive 13% after reorganizing statement

Follows path taken by Comcast's brand-new spin-off business

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Challenges seen in offering debt-laden direct TV networks

(New throughout, adds details, background, comments from industry insiders and experts, updates share costs)

By Dawn Chmielewski, Deborah Mary Sophia and Aditya Soni

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery on Thursday chose to separate its decreasing cable companies such as CNN from streaming and studio operations such as Max, laying the foundation for a potential sale or spinoff of its TV business as more cable customers cut the cord.

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

Media business are thinking about choices for fading cable organizations, a long time golden goose where earnings are eroding as countless customers accept streaming video.

Comcast last month revealed plans to divide many of its NBCUniversal cable networks into a brand-new public business. The new company would be well capitalized and placed to obtain other cable networks if the industry combines, one source informed Reuters.

Bank of America research study analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich wrote that Warner Bros Discovery's cable tv properties are a "really logical partner" for Comcast's new spin-off business.

"We highly think there is capacity for fairly large synergies if WBD's direct networks were combined with Comcast SpinCo," wrote Ehrlich, using the market term for conventional television.

"Further, our company believe WBD's standalone streaming and studio possessions would be an attractive takeover target."

Under the brand-new structure for Warner Bros Discovery, the cable television company including TNT, Animal Planet and CNN will be housed in an unit called Global Linear Networks.

Streaming platforms Max and Discovery+ will be under a different division in addition to film studios, including Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema.

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

"Streaming won as a behavior," said Jonathan Miller, president of digital media investment business Integrated Media. "Now, it's winning as a service."

Brightcove CEO Marc DeBevoise said Warner Bros Discovery's brand-new corporate structure will differentiate growing studio and streaming possessions from profitable however shrinking cable television TV company, offering a clearer financial investment image and likely setting the phase for a sale or spin-off of the cable system.

The media veteran and consultant predicted Paramount and others may take a similar course.

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

"The concern is not whether more pieces will be walked around or knocked off the board, or if further consolidation will occur-- it refers who is the buyer and who is the seller," wrote Fishman.

Zaslav indicated that circumstance during Warner Bros Discovery's investor call last month. He stated he expected President-elect Donald Trump's administration would be friendlier to deal-making, opening the door to media industry combination.

Zaslav had taken part in merger talks with Paramount late last year, though an offer never materialized, according to a regulative filing last month.

Others injected a note of caution, keeping in mind Warner Bros Discovery carries $40.4 billion in financial obligation.

"The structure modification would make it much easier for WBD to sell off its linear TV networks," eMarketer analyst Ross Benes said, referring to the cable television business. "However, finding a purchaser will be tough. The networks owe money and have no signs of growth."

In August, Warner Bros Discovery documented the value of its TV properties by over $9 billion due to uncertainty around fees from cable television and satellite suppliers and sports betting rights renewals.

This week, the media company announced a multi-year offer increasing the general fees Comcast will pay to distribute Warner Bros Discovery's networks.

Warner Bros Discovery is sports betting the Comcast contract, together with an offer reached this year with cable television and broadband service provider Charter, will be a design template for future settlements with distributors. That could help support 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)