Editing WarnerMedia (section)

== Background ==
{{main|Kinney National Company|Time Inc.|Turner Broadcasting System}}

=== Warner Communications (1972–1990) ===
{{infobox company
| name = Warner Communications Inc.
| logo = Warner Communications.svg
| logo_caption = Warner Communications' logo, designed by [[Saul Bass]] and nicknamed "Big W", used from 1972 to 1990. Since 2004, the stylized W has been used by [[Warner Music Group]], which is no longer part of what is now [[Warner Bros. Discovery]].
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{NYSE was|WCI}}
| industry = [[Outline of entertainment|Entertainment]]
| founder = [[Steve Ross (businessman)|Steve Ross]]
| predecessor = [[Kinney National Company|Kinney Services Inc.]]
| foundation = {{start date and age|1972|02|10}}
| defunct = {{end date and age|1990|01|10}}
| fate = Merged with [[Time Inc.]] to form Time Warner
| successor = WarnerMedia<br>[[Warner Bros. Discovery]]
| subsid = {{Plainlist|
* [[Warner Bros. Pictures]]
* [[Warner Bros. Television Studios|Warner Bros. Television]]
* [[Warner Home Video]]
* [[Lorimar Productions]]
* [[Telepictures]]
* [[DC Comics]]
* [[Mad Magazine]]
* [[Warner Records|Warner Bros. Records]]
* [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic Music Group]]
* [[Warner Music Group|Warner-Elektra-Atlantic]]
* [[Time Warner Cable|Warner Cable]]
* [[New York Cosmos (1970-1985)|Global Soccer, Inc.]]}}
| operating_income = {{decrease}} 7.965 billion (1986)
| num_employees = 26.300 (1985)
}}

On February 10, 1972, the entertainment assets of the [[Kinney National Company]] were reincorporated as '''Warner Communications''' due to a financial scandal involving price fixing in its parking operations.<ref name="bruck">{{cite book |author=Connie Bruck |year=2013 |title=Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s5uQoR6o7U4C |location=New York |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781476737706 |access-date=August 30, 2015}}</ref> Warner Communications served as the parent company for [[Warner Bros. Pictures]], the [[Warner Music Group]] (WMG), [[Grand Central Publishing|Warner Books]] and [[Warner Cable]] during the 1970s and 1980s. It also owned [[DC Comics]] and [[Mad (magazine)|''Mad'' magazine]]. The European publishing division, which produced magazines and comics, was known as [[Williams Publishing]]; thanks to a prior acquisition (from [[Gilberton (publisher)|Gilberton World-Wide Publications]]),<ref name="Jones2">Jones Jr., William B. ''Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History'', 2d ed. (McFarland & Company, 2017).</ref> it had European-language branches in the United Kingdom,<ref>[https://www.comics.org/publisher/3535/ Williams Publishing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429003726/https://www.comics.org/publisher/3535/ |date=2021-04-29 }}, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved April 30, 2021.</ref> [[Denmark]],<ref>[https://www.comics.org/publisher/6330/ Williams] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430124910/https://www.comics.org/publisher/6330/ |date=2021-04-30 }}, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved April 30, 2021.</ref> [[Finland]],<ref>[https://www.comics.org/publisher/9086/ Kustannus Oy Williams] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430182328/https://www.comics.org/publisher/9086/ |date=2021-04-30 }}, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved April 30, 2021.</ref> [[France]],<ref>[https://www.comics.org/publisher/11038/ Williams France] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430202327/https://www.comics.org/publisher/11038/ |date=2021-04-30 }}, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved April 30, 2021.</ref> [[West Germany]],<ref>[https://www.comics.org/publisher/3532/ BSV – Williams] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430175735/https://www.comics.org/publisher/3532/ |date=2021-04-30 }}, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved April 30, 2021.</ref> [[Italy]],<ref>"[https://www.comics.org/publisher/4256/ Edizioni Williams Inteuropa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430182328/https://www.comics.org/publisher/4256/ |date=2021-04-30 }}", Grand Comics Database. Retrieved April 30, 2021.</ref> the Netherlands,<ref>[https://www.comics.org/publisher/296/ Classics/Williams] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210501012536/https://www.comics.org/publisher/296/ |date=2021-05-01 }}, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved April 30, 2021.</ref> [[Norway]],<ref>[https://www.comics.org/publisher/2125/ Illustrerte Klassikere / Williams Forlag] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210525171035/https://www.comics.org/publisher/2125/ |date=2021-05-25 }}, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved June 22, 2021.</ref> and [[Sweden]].<ref>[https://www.comics.org/publisher/379/ Williams Förlags AB] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428232334/https://www.comics.org/publisher/379/ |date=2021-04-28 }}, Grand Comics Database. Retrieved April 30, 2021.</ref> Most of these publishers were sold off around 1979.

During its time as Warner Communications, the company made several further acquisitions. In 1979, Warner formed a joint venture with credit card company [[American Express]] called [[Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment]]. This company owned such cable channels as [[MTV]], [[Nickelodeon]], [[The Movie Channel]], and [[VH1]] (which was launched in 1985 on the channel space left by [[Turner Broadcasting System|Turner]]'s [[Cable Music Channel]]). Warner bought out American Express's half in 1984 and sold the venture a year later to the [[Viacom (1952–2006)|original iteration of Viacom]], which renamed it [[Paramount Media Networks#Background|MTV Networks]] (now known as Paramount Media Networks). In 1982, Warner purchased [[Popular Library]] from [[CBS Publications]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| title=Copyrights of Golden-Age Comics| url=http://www.herogoggles.com/copyright1.html| encyclopedia=Golden-Age Comic book Superheroes & Villains Encyclopedia| access-date=September 20, 2011| archive-date=September 21, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921035105/http://www.herogoggles.com/copyright1.html| url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Financial issues and corporate transition ====
By the mid to late 1980s, Warner began to face financial difficulties. From 1976 to 1984, Warner Communications owned [[Atari, Inc.]], but suffered substantial losses due to the [[video game crash of 1983]], and spun them off in 1984.<ref name="nytimes warner sells">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/03/business/warner-sells-atari-to-tramiel.html|title=Warner Sells Atari to Tramiel|author=David E. Sanger|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 3, 1984|access-date=November 2, 2023|archive-date=October 2, 2021|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211002231020/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/03/business/warner-sells-atari-to-tramiel.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Taking advantage of Warner Communications' financial situation, [[Time Inc.]] announced on March 4, 1989, that the two companies were to merge.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/05/us/time-inc-and-warner-to-merge-creating-largest-media-company.html|title=Time Inc. and Warner to Merge, Creating Largest Media Company|last=Norris|first=Floyd|date=March 5, 1989|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 18, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=September 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901012649/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/05/us/time-inc-and-warner-to-merge-creating-largest-media-company.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the summer of 1989, [[Paramount Communications]] (then [[Gulf+Western]]) launched a $12.2 billion [[hostile bid]] to acquire Time Inc. in an attempt to end a stock-swap merger deal between Time Inc. and Warner Communications.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|date=October 31, 1989|title=P. M. Briefing : 2 Simon & Schuster Units Sold|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-31-fi-360-story.html|access-date=October 26, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|archive-date=October 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026160239/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-31-fi-360-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Time Inc. raised its bid to $14.9 billion in cash and stock. Paramount responded by filing a lawsuit in a Delaware court to block the Time Warner merger. The court ruled twice in favor of Time Inc., forcing Paramount to drop both the Time Inc. acquisition and the lawsuit, and allowing the two companies to merge, which was completed on January 10, 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |title=URGENT Delaware Court Rules In Favor Of Time-Warner Merger |url=https://apnews.com/article/377d1dd274bb79706a2a764581daa167 |access-date=2022-05-05 |website=AP NEWS |language=en |archive-date=2022-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505164557/https://apnews.com/article/377d1dd274bb79706a2a764581daa167 |url-status=live }}</ref>