CBS Buys into AXS TV

LOS ANGELES: CBS has purchased a minority stake in Mark Cuban’s AXS TV, which will receive promotional support and access to live events programming.

Launched in July of last year, AXS TV is a joint venture of Mark Cuban Companies, AEG, Creative Artist Agency and Ryan Seacrest Media. There are currently 38 million subscribers to the service, which is dedicated to airing live events from the worlds of music and pop culture. A new multi-year commitment from CBS provides for promotion and access to content and shoulder programming opportunities, in addition to strategic support.

“CBS is happy to provide AXS TV with live event content as the basis of this partnership,” said Leslie Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS Corporation. “This is an innovative way to use our tent-pole programming to gain more ownership in the cable network business. AXS TV will now serve as a terrific complement to our existing broadcast television entertainment programming.”

“CBS brings the industry’s best and most respected resources and experience to AXS TV which will accelerate our growth and realization of our vision that, ‘The future of TV is TV,’” commented Mark Cuban, the president and CEO of AXS TV.

“It was amazing to see the transformation from HDNet to AXS TV, and now this new partnership with CBS will create a new kind of live entertainment experience for fans,” added Tim Leiweke, the president and CEO of AEG. “We share Mark’s vision of bringing together the best minds and the best companies in the entertainment space. Nobody does it better than CBS and Les Moonves and I consider him the finest at what he does. Add the power of CBS to ‘the Shark’—Mark Cuban—and then combine this with AEG and our other partners, and I believe this is not just ‘must see TV,’ it’s ‘can’t miss TV.’”