The Hearst Corp. said Monday it is buying half of prolific reality television producer Mark Burnett’s company and folding it into a joint venture.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Burnett is the executive behind “Survivor,” “The Apprentice” and “Shark Tank” and has produced more than 1,100 hours of television programming. Hearst has ownership stakes in cable networks heavy in nonfiction content, like A&E, History, Lifetime and ESPN.
Nonfiction programming has quickly become a staple at these networks and others, like Bravo and the Discovery family of networks, said Scott Sassa, president of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication. Burnett has a proven ability to make popular shows that are advertiser-friendly, he said.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be in partnership with Mark,” Sassa said. “There was nobody else that we looked at.”
Burnett said it was key that Hearst will allow him to sell programming to non-Hearst companies. The deal doesn’t affect long-running shows like “Survivor,” either.
The deal will allow him to expand into other areas and build complementary businesses around his programming, he said.
“I’m ready for the second act of my career,” he said.
The arrangement falls in line with a trend toward consolidation of media companies and content producers, said Paul Kagan, CEO of analysts PK World Media.
“If you are a distributor of programming, it would be great to own content, and vice versa,” he said.
Sassa said he believed that the development of nonfiction programming is a trend still on an upswing.
“‘Survivor’ was like ‘I Love Lucy’ for nonfiction,” Sassa said. “We haven’t seen ‘The Brady Bunch’ yet. We haven’t seen ‘Seinfeld.’ We haven’t seen ‘Modern Family.'”
A decade ago, Sassa was a top executive at NBC at a time it was criticized for being suspicious of reality television, while CBS was profiting from “Survivor” and ABC from “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”
Disney Pledges $15 million In L.A. Fire Aid As More Celebs Learn They’ve Lost Their Homes
The Pacific Palisades wildfires torched the home of "This Is Us" star Milo Ventimiglia, perhaps most poignantly destroying the father-to-be's newly installed crib.
CBS cameras caught the actor walking through his charred house for the first time, standing in what was once his kitchen and looking at a neighborhood in ruin. "Your heart just breaks."
He and his pregnant wife, Jarah Mariano, evacuated Tuesday with their dog and they watched on security cameras as the flames ripped through the house, destroying everything, including a new crib.
"There's a kind of shock moment where you're going, 'Oh, this is real. This is happening.' What good is it to continue watching?' And then at a certain point we just turned it off, like 'What good is it to continue watching?'"
Firefighters sought to make gains Friday during a respite in the heavy winds that fanned the flames as numerous groups pledged aid to help victims and rebuild, including a $15 million donation pledge from the Walt Disney Co.
More stars learn their homes are gone
While seeing the remains of his home, Ventimiglia was struck by a connection to his "This Is Us" character, Jack Pearson, who died after inhaling smoke in a house fire. "It's not lost on me life imitating art."
Mandy Moore, who played Ventimiglia's wife on "This Is Us," nearly lost her home in the Eaton fire, which scorched large areas of the Altadena neighborhood. She said Thursday that part of her house is standing but is unlivable, and her husband lost his music studio and all his instruments.
Mel Gibson's home is "completely gone," his publicist Alan Nierob confirmed Friday. The Oscar winner revealed the loss of his home earlier Friday while appearing on Joe Rogan's... Read More