A giant inflatable shark named Chompie has occasionally graced Discovery Communications’ Silver Spring headquarters during Shark Week over the years. (Photos by Vitalii Folomeev)

The Silver Spring-based Discovery Communications announced Monday that it has acquired Scripps Networks Interactive in a $14.6 billion deal to create a “global content engine.”

Scripps holdings include the Food Network, HGTV, the Travel Channel, and the Cooking Channel. Combined, the two companies account for nearly 20 percent of cable TV viewership in the United States.

“Our business is about great storytelling, authentic characters and passionate super fans,” said Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav in a statement. “We believe that by coming together with Scripps, we will create a stronger, more flexible, and more dynamic media company with a global content engine that can be fully optimized and monetized across our combined networks, products, and services in every country around the world.”

Discovery, whose stock fell 8 percent after the announcement was made, is assuming nearly $3 billion in Scripps’ debt, and paying shareholders nearly $12 billion.

It is unclear what it will mean for either Discovery’s Silver Spring or Scripps’ Nashville headquarters, which employ about 1,300 and 1,000 people respectively.

“We’ve got several months until we even close the transaction before we even think about anything related to [office] locations,” a Discovery spokeswoman told Bethesda Beat.