Jennifer Lopez Battles Ex Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Over TV Network Purchase
Jennifer Lopez and her ex Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs have found themselves in a recent bidding war over the purchase of cable music network Fuse, and it looks like J-Lo came out the victor according to the New York Post.
Lopez owns a minority stake in the NuvoTV network, and English-language cable network aimed at latino viewers. NuvoTV was going up against Combs in the bidding war to acquire Fuse from Madison Square Garden Co., and turned in a winning bid of $226 million according to TIME. Combs had reportedly offered somewhere closer to $200 million to acquire the music network, which he intended to combine with his own Revolt video channel in order to build his own cable stronghold. Diddy also had backing from billionaire investor Ron Burkle.
“This is a real blow to Diddy and Revolt,” the New York Post reported ex-Fuse chief Eric Sherman said. Sherman has worked with Jennifer Lopez before on American Idol.
“Fuse was such a perfect fit for them. But having worked with Jennifer on ‘Idol,’ I’m not surprised she and her team prevailed,” Sherman continued.
MSG announced back in September that it would be working with JP Morgan Chase to find a suitable buyer for Fuse, as the network had recently been struggling despite several attempts to re-brand the network. The New York Post is reporting that a person close to the situation claimed that the initial asking price for Fuse was set at around $400 million, giving Lopez and her group quite the bargain at the reported winning bid.
Fuse is currently in around 73 million homes, more than twice that of Lopez’s NuvoTV. As of right now no plans have been announced to shut down Fuse.
NuvoTV and Jennifer Lopez formed their partnership back in 2012, as Lopez took on a minority ownership stake in the company and now advises the network on strategy and marketing.
“I saw it as a no-brainer,” Lopez told Variety following the announcement of the deal which saw her partner with NuvoTV back in 2012. “I’m an English-speaking Latina myself. I want to take NuvoTV to the next level.”
The purchase of Fuse seems to be a big step in that promise Lopez made regarding NuvoTv back in 2012. Fuse offers a vastly larger reach than NuvoTV has, although exactly what Lopez and company have in store for the future of their new acquisition hasn’t been made clear as of yet.
[Image via Latinopost]
