CBS has a deal to acquire its first mainstream ad-supported cable channel, buying a 50 percent stake in TV Guide network.
Network CEO Les Moonves, who has been on the prowl to expand his cable portfolio, bought the stake from JPMorgan Chase’s One Equity Partners.
The price was about $100 million.
Lionsgate owns the other half of TV Guide network.
CBS has long hankered for a cable network.
Moonves modestly told investors at a Goldman Sachs conference in September, “Are there cable networks we could run better than other people? Yes.”
“Would we like a general entertainment channel at the right price? Absolutely,” Moovnes said at the time.
CBS already owns premium network Showtime, a small sports service, CBS Sports and Smithsonian Networks.
It also has international cable holdings.
Moonves had bid on CurrentTV but lost out because it didn’t want to match the winning $500 million bid from Al Jazeera.
The price tag suggests that TV Guide has lost value during the time it has been under the aegis of One Equity Partners and entrepreneur Allen Shapiro.
The two parties bought it from Macrovision for a total consideration of $300 million in 2008 and then sold half to Lionsgate.
The 32-year-old TV Guide Network earns around $100 million a year in advertising revenue but its distribution contracts, which stipulate a scrolling guide, made it a difficult purchase for other parties that kicked the tires.
It recently started to air re-runs of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Weeds.”
Representatives for the companies didn’t comment.