Shares jump 13% after reorganizing statement

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

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Challenges seen in selling debt-laden direct TV networks

(New throughout, adds information, background, comments from market experts and experts, updates share prices)

By Dawn Chmielewski, Deborah Mary Sophia and Aditya Soni

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Warner Bros Discovery on Thursday decided to separate its decreasing cable services such as CNN from streaming and studio operations such as Max, preparing for a prospective sale or spinoff of its TV service as more cable customers cut the cable.

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

Media business are thinking about alternatives for fading cable TV companies, a longtime golden goose where revenues are wearing down as countless customers welcome streaming video.

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

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

"We strongly think there is capacity for relatively large synergies if WBD's linear networks were combined with Comcast SpinCo," wrote Ehrlich, using the industry term for traditional television.

"Further, we think WBD's standalone streaming and studio properties would be an attractive takeover target."

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

Streaming platforms Max and Discovery+ will be under a separate division in addition to film studios, consisting of 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 settling.

"Streaming won as a habits," stated Jonathan Miller, primary executive of digital media financial investment company Integrated Media. "Now, it's winning as a service."

Brightcove CEO Marc DeBevoise said Warner Bros Discovery's brand-new business structure will distinguish growing studio and streaming properties from profitable however diminishing cable service, offering a clearer investment image and most likely setting the stage for a sale or spin-off of the cable television unit.

The media veteran and advisor predicted Paramount and others may take a comparable path.

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

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

Zaslav signified that circumstance throughout Warner Bros Discovery's investor call last month. He stated he prepared for President-elect Donald Trump's administration would be friendlier to deal-making, unlocking to media market consolidation.

Zaslav had participated in merger talks with Paramount late in 2015, though an offer never materialized, according to a regulatory filing last month.

Others injected a note of care, noting Warner Bros Discovery carries $40.4 billion in debt.

"The structure modification would make it easier for WBD to sell its linear TV networks," eMarketer analyst Ross Benes said, describing the cable television TV company. "However, finding a buyer will be tough. The networks are in debt and have no signs of growth."

In August, Warner Bros Discovery made a note of the value of its TV assets by over $9 billion due to unpredictability around fees from cable and satellite distributors and sports betting rights renewals.

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

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