What We Learned From the Upfronts: Midseason Is the New Fall and Live Sports Aren’t Everything

May 14, 2026 5:01pm PT What We Learned From the Upfronts: Midseason Is the New Fall and Live Sports Aren’t Everything

By Michael Schneider, Joe Otterson, Jennifer Maas, Brian Steinberg

Warner Bros. Discovery kicked off its annual upfront event at the Madison Square Garden Theater by paying tribute to the late Ted Turner, who had just died the previous week. Turner, of course, was part of why WBD was even holding an upfront in the first place: Not only was the media giant a cable pioneer who brought us CNN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network and more, but his Turner Broadcasting was the cornerstone of Warner Bros.’ ad-supported media portfolio — something that expanded greatly with the Discovery Communications merger.

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