More scoop from Claire Atkinson at Broadcasting & Cable:
A&E Television Networks president and CEO Abbe Raven has been named to run a new company being formed by Disney-ABC TV, Hearst Corporation and NBC Universal, according to several sources close to talks. The new entity merges the various assets of AETN and Lifetime and creates a powerhouse cable company with 10 channels in 145 countries, three of the top 12 cable brands and 15 Websites.
Lifetime president and chief executive Andrea Wong will report to Raven, staff heard Thursday, though the management structure for other positions such as sales and marketing are yet to be determined. The cost-saving initiative, long suggested by Disney CEO Bob Iger, will enable Lifetime to take advantage of being part of a larger cable entity which is both highly profitable and already well-established on the international scene.
bill /robert what exactly does this mean for us channel watchers?Will this effect our viewing?what does this mean in laymans terms?Will we not really notice or could this change things? if im being stupid im sry
oh yeah what cable brands channels will be effected?
Chet, my guess is in terms of your cable channel lineup, it won’t mean anything. In terms of programming, etc., it’s hard for me to opine. Overall I’m guessing it will be spun as “creative synergies and more cost effective”.
What does this mean for Oxygen? It’s also owned by NBCU and appears to target the same demos as Lifetime.
Jon, from what I can tell, Oxygen (and other NBCU properties like Bravo, SciFi and USA) would remain separate from the venture and completely owned by NBCU.
By the looks of things, NBC Universal has bought a stake in Lifetime and is merging it with AETN although that means that NBCU owns or parts owns three female skewed cable networks. I wonder if this is could mean that Lifetime could expand internationally like History, Bio and C&I have.
Kinda ironic since NBCU went to court with Lifetime over Project Runway.
It means that the combined company will push for higher rates from cable/satellite providers as part of carriage agreements. It will probably require the provider to launch a new channel (or move a channel to a higher penetrated tier) in order to continue carrying one of the main channels such as A&E or Lifetime. So in the end, the combined company will save money on operations while increasing profitability through increased fees which the cable/satellite providers will pass on to consumers.