A+E Global Media, parent of long-established cable networks A&E, History and Lifetime, is exploring a potential sale.
The company, a joint venture of Disney and Hearst which rebranded earlier this year from A+E Networks, has retained Wells Fargo to help it look at various strategic options, a person familiar with the situation told Deadline. An outright sale may not end up being the ultimate plan, and a transaction possibly might not occur at all if the terms don’t turn out to be favorable.
The initiative comes as no major surprise, given that cable networks are experiencing steady declines in viewing and ad spending. While they still throw off significant cash, the networks are being separated from their corporate parents across the media industry. Comcast is spinning out Versant, a collection of NBCUniversal cable assets, later this year. Warner Bros. Discovery has also announced it is splitting its cable channels from its studio and streaming portfolio.
Variety had the first report of the potential sale. A+E, Disney and Hearst declined to comment.
A&E Global is the “third tier” and most significant equity investment of Disney’s linear television business with results noted as “equity in the income of investees” in the company’s consolidated income statements. – the rest reported by Hearst. Disney has in recent years been assessing the value of its linear TV networks, but pulled back on a tentative plan to sell off TV assets after execs concluded they had value as complements to streaming.
A&E offers entertai nment programming including original reality and docs; History has originalunscripted series and event-driven specials; Lifetime offers programming targeted to women. Each had about 58 million domestic subscribers as of September 2024, the end of Disney’s fiscal year, per Nielsen Media Research estimates. A+E programming is available in approximately 200 countries and territories.
MORE to come …
