The deal market for cable channels is heating up, with A+E Global Media now exploring its strategic options, including a potential sale or merger, sources familiar with the matter confirm to The Hollywood Reporter.
The company has retained Wells Fargo to help it look into those options.
A+E owns the Lifetime, History Channel and A&E cable channels as well as their affiliated streaming offshoots and libraries, among other assets. The company is currently a 50/50 joint venture between The Walt Disney Co. and Hearst, but as those media companies navigate a choppy environment for traditional platforms, they may be looking to offload A+E to a buyer who can more efficiently operate the brands.
And the market, to be certain, is getting busier.
Warner Bros. Discovery is set to split itself in two, with its linear channels (including CNN, Food Network, TNT and TBS) set to become their own company, separate from HBO Max and the Warner Bros. Studios, and Comcast will soon spin out most of its cable channels, including MSNBC, CNBC, Syfy and USA Network into a new company called Versant.
Both of those linear rollups could emerge as landing pads or A+E, in addition to other possible buyers.
A spokesperson for A+E declined to comment.
Variety‘s Cynthia Littleton first reported the news.
More to come.
