It appears Warner Bros. Discovery has found one of CEO David Zaslav’s two priority hires. The company has named Luis Silberwasser as chairman and and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports. Silberwasser was most recently the president of U.S. networks for TelevisaUnivision.
The hire is a very important one in the landscape of sports television rights. Currently, WBD’s sports rights include the NBA, NHL and MLB, as well as March Madness college basketball.
Lenny Daniels, the president of Turner Sports, and Patrick Crumb, who leads WBD’s regional sports networks, will report to Silberwasser.
WBD CEO David Zaslav, the longtime chief executive officer of Discovery, became the head of the combined company in April. It was then he noted that he was prioritizing the hiring of two new roles for his leadership team: a head of sports, and a chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer. Silberwasser’s hiring checks the first box.
There is a strong relationship between Silberwasser and Zaslav. For years, Silberwasser worked for Zaslav at Discovery serving as a top executive for Discovery Networks International. In 2014, he left the company to serve as president of Telemundo’s networks business, before joining Univision (and later TelevisaUnivision), last year.
“I have known Luis for many years and have tremendous respect for how hard he works, how collaborative he approaches the job, and his ability to build very successful global businesses and brands,” said Zaslav. “I am thrilled to be working with him again, and believe Luis’ strong international business relationships, leadership track record and passion for delivering the best content and consumer experience make him the ideal leader to oversee the continued growth and expansion of our world-class sports business.”
