Starz has expressed interest in a potential acquisition of Lifetime and The History channel parent company A+E Global Media, according to Bloomberg.
The expression of interest comes after TheWrap previously reported that A&E’s owners Disney and Hearst had hired Wells Fargo to explore strategic options, including a potential sale or merger. Disney and Hearst control the company under a 50-50 joint venture.
An individual familiar with the matter tells TheWrap there’s been no actual movement on talks and nothing is imminent. Representatives for Starz and A&E Global Media declined to comment.
Following Starz’s separation from Lionsgate in May, CEO Jeff Hirsch told TheWrap that the company would be interested in working with networks that are “marooned on the linear side and don’t have technical capabilities to do what we’ve done” as it looks to scale up.
“We think we can be very additive to content that is stuck on the linear side to give them a digital future,” he explained at the time, noting that 70% of Starz’s revenue comes from digital. “Obviously, we are going to be focused on women and underrepresented audiences and so we’ll try to scale our business around that programming focus with partners, whether it’s commercial or acquisition, that can actually help us grow our business and into those demos.”
“We think there’s about 80 million households in the U.S. that are an opportunity for us. In the U.S. and Canada, we’re on 20 million today,” he added. “So we think by potentially adding partners that way, we can actually push up into that total addressable market and really grow our business.”
Hirsch reiterated that message during the company’s third quarter earnings call last week, telling analysts that Starz believes it is “poised to increase our scale as assets that are strategically valuable to Starz become available,” citing the potential for “increased consolidation across the media landscape.”
“If it’s a deal that allows us to stay within the the leverage range that we have, it sits with us strategically in terms of our two core demos, and we believe that we can actually convert the business from linear to digital, we think that’s a home run deal for us,” Hirsch added.
A+E has over 70,000 distinct content assets, ranging from short-form to long-form, which reach more than 414 million households in 200 territories and 40 languages. In March, A+E Media Solutions president Toby Byrne told TheWrap that the company’s multi-platform strategy reaches 60% of U.S. adults.
A+E Network offers entertainment programming, including original reality shows and documentaries, while History offers original unscripted series and event-driven specials and Lifetime offers programming aimed at women.
The A+E Global Media portfolio also includes LMN, FYI and Vice TV brands, scripted and factual production divisions and over 60 FAST channels. Additionally, the company holds stakes in Range Media Partners and Propagate Content, which collectively represent more than 3,000 artists, athletes, directors, musicians, writers and producers.
A+E, which accounted for just 0.9% of TV viewership in September per Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge, does not disclose its quarterly financial results as a private company. But in an annual letter to staff in February, Hearst CEO Steve Swartz warned that A+E was feeling the effects of a “tougher ad market, along with continued cord cutting.”
Per Disney’s latest annual report, its equity in the income of investees fell 29% to $275 million in the 2025 fiscal year, in part due to lower income from A+E. As of September 2024, A+E, History and Lifetime each had around 58 million domestic subscribers, which included traditional pay TV and streaming subscribers, per Nielsen.
In addition to A+E’s strategic review and Starz’s separation from Lionsgate earlier this year, Comcast will spin its cable network portfolio into Versant by the end of the year.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s linear networks business is also on track to separate from its streaming and studios business in April. In addition to continuing with its planned split, WBD’s board is also considering separate transactions for those two companies or a deal for the entire combined company. WBD also said it would consider an alternative separation structure that would enable a merger of Warner Bros. and spin-off of Discovery Global to its shareholders.
Netflix and Comcast are both kicking the tires on WBD’s studio and streaming business, while Paramount has submitted three separate offers for the entire company, which ranged from $19 to $23.50 per share and were rejected for being too low.
An individual familiar with the matter told TheWrap that the first round of non-binding bids are due Nov. 20, with a decision on a possible deal expected to be made around Christmas.
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