A&E and Lifetime Channels Complete Merger 2009-08-27
The long-anticipated merger of the cable channels A&E and Lifetime was completed Thursday as the companies that jointly owned the channels announced a deal that will place Abbe Raven, the current president of A&E, in charge of the combined networks.
The Walt Disney Company, the Hearst Corporation, and NBC Universal announced the agreement, which has been in the works for several months. The deal, which still requires some last-minute international regulatory approval, calls for A&E Television Networks to acquire Lifetime Entertainment Services.
The new unit will continue to be called A&E Television Networks, with Lifetime Entertainment Services as a subsidiary. Specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In the arrangement announced Wednesday, NBC will own a smaller percentage of the combined channels, and the deal’s terms include a mechanism under which NBC Universal may either chose or be required to sell its interest to the other two partners some time within the next 15 years.
But NBC has never held a controlling interest in A&E; its percentage of ownership was less than one-third, and Jeff Gaspin, NBC’s top cable executive, said, “We are not at all looking to get out of this” merger.
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