[Branflake]

Quest is by far and away Discovery's most watched linear channel so I can't imagine they'd just close it, especially when they have other Freeview channels that don't perform anywhere near as well. If anything I'd have thought their subscription linear channels would be far more likely to be at risk as their focus shifted to Discovery+ some time ago.

I guess they could rebrand Quest but I'm not sure why they would. Warner TV in other countries looks to be more of a scripted channel and there's simply no market for scripted series on minor digital channels in a streaming world any more.

There were rumours last year (which turned out to be unfounded) that Discovery were planning on closing all but one of their pay TV channels. Although it didn't happen then, I do suspect that that is their long-term goal.

The former Discovery side of the business was always very focussed on maximising the profitability of linear services at the same time as steering consumers to D+. The strategy is primarily on dispassionate cost reduction over any ideologically driven focus to close linear services en masse.

There are certainly channels out there that make little or no money, but those in that category can cost very little to run on the WBD side due to deals with local affiliates who cover some costs for provision of localised services.