Ryan Seacrest Enters Cable Venture with Mark Cuban

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LOS ANGELES: AEG, Ryan Seacrest Media and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) have established a joint venture to rebrand Mark Cuban’s HDNet as AXS TV.

The channel, slated for this summer, will feature live entertainment and lifestyle programming. AEG’s presence in live events and affiliation with venues worldwide will bring viewers behind-the-scenes access to concerts and music festivals, red carpet premieres, award shows, parties, pop-culture events and interviews. A number of signature HDNet shows, including HDNet Fights, Inside MMA, Dan Rather Reports, Sunday concert series and select non-scripted shows, will continue on AXS TV. As part of the deal, Ryan Seacrest Productions will also develop and produce programming for AXS TV.

DISH Network has committed to expanding the distribution of the rebranded network. It will also provide VOD concerts and unique ticketing opportunities for subscribers. AXS TV will continue to be available on HDNet’s existing distributors, including DIRECTV, Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Charter, NCTC-member systems, Suddenlink and Shaw (in Canada).

"I’m incredibly excited to be in business with AEG, Ryan Seacrest, and CAA," said Mark Cuban, co-founder and chairman of HDNet. "This is a major step on our way to offering more live programming than any other entertainment and lifestyle network. And our partnership with DISH to offer unique subscriber services will allow AXS TV to change the value proposition between networks, distributors, and subscribers. AXS TV will unquestionably be able to leverage our unique assets to do things no other network will be able to replicate."

"AEG is very pleased to be involved with Mark Cuban and HDNet and equally as proud to have partners like Ryan Seacrest Media and CAA," added Timothy J. Leiweke, the president and CEO of AEG. "The live business continues to grow and expand and the ability to give fans the opportunity to experience live in a different way is something we have been looking for a way to do for years."

He continued, "As part of a point of emanation for content, we are excited to provide the resources of L.A. LIVE, the O2 and our London campus among the many assets we are bringing into the partnership. In addition, we are excited that AXS TV will have a host studio at L.A. LIVE. This is a natural tie-in for our ticketing platform, axs Ticketing, as well as our facilities around the world. This is a platform for all agents, all promoters and all managers. It is not the creation of an AEG channel. It is about the fans and bringing the live experience to them."

"AXS TV brings DISH subscribers a premier TV destination for concert-goers to watch the most popular concert acts and provide opportunities for unique ticket sales at venues near them," commented Joe Clayton, the CEO of DISH. "The new DISH is all about ‘more music, more movies, and more magic.’ So, we’re pleased to provide a majority of our subscribers front row seats to this innovative channel."

"Over the last year, we’ve been diligently working with our partners AEG and CAA to strategize and explore how we could deliver quality live entertainment and lifestyle programming to a large audience. HDNet is the perfect partner to help us translate our vision into a reality, giving us an instant reach into 35 million homes when we rebrand the channel and launch AXS TV," said Ryan Seacrest. "Mark Cuban and Tim Leiweke bring a tremendous amount of entrepreneurial experience and spirit to this venture, and I’m confident our collective collaboration will make AXS a success."

"We have worked closely with AEG and Ryan Seacrest to conceptualize a new network that could benefit from our combined resources and create a new distribution opportunity for artists and content creators and their high-quality entertainment and lifestyle programming," remarked David O’Connor, the managing partner at CAA. "Mark Cuban and his HDNet make a terrific partner for this venture, and we look forward to joining forces to help build AXS into a premier cable destination for entertainment enthusiasts."