Mark Cuban Sells HDNet, Becomes Equity Investor in Anthem Sports

(Bloomberg) -- Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the owner of sports-oriented channels like Pursuit and Fight Network, acquired a majority interest in billionaire Mark Cuban’s HDNet, parent of the AXS TV and HDNet Movies networks.

The buyer will take over management of the channels, along with AXS TV’s library of owned programming, including wrestling, mixed-martial arts and entertainment content, according to a statement Monday.

The purchase gives Anthem a larger portfolio of channels at time when media companies are combining to gain scale. Cuban and AEG will become equity investors in Anthem as part of the deal, along with businessman and entertainer Steve Harvey. Other financial terms weren’t disclosed.

AXS TV and HDNet Movies will continue operating from their facilities in Denver and Los Angeles, and the combined company will include Anthem’s production center in Toronto and production facilities in Nashville and Europe.

With the deal, Anthem estimates its channels reach nearly 150 million TV homes worldwide, including more than 110 million served by traditional cable and satellite distributors in the U.S. and Canada.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rob Golum in Los Angeles at rgolum@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net

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