The TV Guide Network, which is up for sale along with its companion site, is drawing interest from potential suitors Discovery Communications and CBS Corp., The Post has learned.
Lionsgate Entertainment owns the TV Guide channel, brand name and online property TVGuide.com, along with JPMorgan’s private-equity arm, One Equity Partners. TV Guide magazine is owned by Open Gate Capital, founded by Andrew Nikou.
The Post has learned, however, that Nikou, 34, has joined the bidding for TVGuide.com.
Lionsgate and One Equity hired boutique investment bank Moelis to explore a sale of the network in January after putting the Web site on the auction block last year.
Discovery’s cable channels include Animal Planet and TLC in addition to the flagship Discovery Channel. Beyond premium channel Showtime, however, CBS has far less exposure to the cable business.
Both firms declined to comment.
Sources familiar with the talks said the channel could fetch as much as $350 million, with the site going for closer to $50 million.
Whether Lionsgate goes ahead with a sale of the channel depends on the price, although JPMorgan appears committed to selling, sources said.
Lionsgate has been mulling the channel sale since agreeing to acquire Summit Entertainment, the independent studio behind the “Twilight” franchise, for $412.5 million. It paid $255 million for the properties in 2009, and almost immediately sold off a 49-percent stake to One Equity for $123 million.
Nikou’s Open Gate, which bought TV Guide magazine for a buck in 2008, is said to be offering around $50 million for TVGuide.com. The firm declined to comment.
While the TV network, which is distributed to 80 million homes, has attracted interest, it still poses challenges for buyers aiming to escape its scrolling TV listings format.
The network has reduced the number of households that are required to see the scroll, but at least one big distributor hasn’t agreed to new terms, sources said.