Seacrest and Cuban Venture: Like Entrepreneurial PB&J

Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is partnering with media guru Ryan Seacrest on rebranding his HDNet channel to AXS TV.

Image: Flickr

Ryan Seacrest is getting a piece of a TV network at last, HDNet owner and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban shoots and scores even more cash with a re-branded channel and viewers can indulge in more pop culture. Everyone wins!

It was announced Wednesday that Seacrest, along with Anschutz Entertainment Group, a top music venue owner and tour promoter, talent agency Creative Artists Agency and HDNet had formed a deal to rebrand Cuban’s HDNet cable channel as AXS (as in Access) TV.

It will be a hybrid of concert, sports and awards programming that uses the two entrepreneurs behind it to great advantage. Consider the potent combination of Seacrest—who has a hosting and production deal with E! that includes the Kardashian reality franchise—with cable and sports titan Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks and is one of the sharks on the enterpreneur-based reality hit Shark Tank.

Though financial terms were not disclosed, a source told The Hollywood Reporter that the venture between Cuban and the others is “virtually” a 50-50 partnership.

As Forbes puts it, the two star players have much to gain from this deal.

No matter what happens, multimillionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban is the ultimate winner here. It’s hugely expensive to keep an acquisition-laden channel going indefinitely, without eventually creating new programming which – although expensive to make – has the potential to draw in new viewers.

Additionally, Seacrest will have a dedicated outlet for the programs his own production company makes. If AXS reaches critical mass in potential viewership, he will have some pretty heavy leverage with program sales to already-existing networks. And better yet, he won’t have to bring the Kardashians.

Wait, that last bit may be the best part of all.