| MUMBAI:
Lionsgate said Thursday that One Equity Partners (OEP), the global private equity
investment arm of JPMorgan Chase, will become a 49 per cent equity partner in
its TV Guide Network and TVGuide.com. OEP
will pay approximately $123 million in cash for the stake in the network and the
TVGuide.com online business. OEP retains the option of buying another one per
cent under certain circumstances.
Additionally,
media investor Allen Shapiro has joined as chairman of the joint venture partnership
and will play an important role in the channel's growth, partnering with Lionsgate
co-chairman and CEO Jon Feltheimer. Shapiro
will lead the channel's executive committee, supported by Lionsgate's television
management team. "We
are delighted to welcome both One Equity Partners and Shapiro as partners in TV
Guide Network and TVGuide.com," said Feltheimer. "Given their longstanding
interest in the channel and the alignment of our interests, they are the ideal
partners. OEP is a distinguished and well-capitalized firm that shares our vision
of building a dynamic entertainment channel driven by Lionsgate-branded content
that will prove to be a major force within our industry." "We
are pleased to partner with Lionsgate and Shapiro on these two unique properties
within the media landscape," said OEP MD Greg O'Hara. "The marriage
of Lionsgate's tremendous content creation and marketing prowess, our financial
resources and expertise and Shapiro's media investment track record form the kind
of winning combination that we have sought from day one." The
online navigation site TVGuide.com and TV Guide Network, which reaches approximately
83 million homes and is one of the 30 most widely-distributed cable networks,
were acquired by Lionsgate on 28 February, 2009 for approximately $250 million.
The
acquisition of TV Guide Network continues Lionsgate's strategy of leveraging its
content leadership into new channel distribution platforms that include the branded
horror channel FEARnet, operated with partners Sony and Comcast, and the new premium
entertainment channel EPIX, which is scheduled to launch in October with partners
Viacom and MGM. The
acquisition of TVGuide.com, which has grown from five to 19 million monthly unique
visitors in the past three years, continues to expand Lionsgate's online businesses,
which include a 42 per cent investment in leading young men's site Break Media
and an innovative partnership with YouTube for a dedicated Lionsgate channel of
filmed entertainment content. | 
