Pack your bags, TLC employees: Discovery Communications will relocate its headquarters from Silver Springs, Maryland to New York City in 2019, the company said on Tuesday.
Additionally, after its pending acquisition of Scripps officially goes through, Discovery will open a National Operations Headquarters in Knoxville, Tenn., which is where the Scripps campus is now.
“The media industry is rapidly evolving, increasingly global, more consumer focused and more multi-platform and Discovery must evolve with it,” Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav said. “The decision to move our global headquarters from its founding home is one we do not make lightly. We remain unwavering in our support of the Maryland and Greater Washington, DC area and we thank the leadership of the State of Maryland, Montgomery County and, most importantly, our employees for their cooperation and understanding as we make this important next step for the long-term success of Discovery.”
Discovery employees were informed of the coming changes this morning. They were also told that duplication of functions will be evaluated, and “Decisions on individual job status and relocation… will be made after the close of the Scripps acquisition.”
The Silver Springs facility is currently home to 1,300 Discovery employees.
Discovery already has a New York City presence, which will be consolidated into the new facility. The existing Scripps employees in Manhattan will join them once the building is ready.
Meanwhile, Discovery’s media distribution facility in Sterling, Va. — which originates over 80 global feeds — will become a global technology center.
Finally, Discovery “will maintain a Maryland Network Hub to house select network and support functions, as well as select other functions such as government relations, that are logically based in the Metropolitan DC area,” the Discovery Channel owner said.
Discovery’s near-$15 billion acquisition of HGTV-owner Scripps is pending regulatory approval. The deal is expected to close early this year.