Clear Channel teams up with Ryan Seacrest
Radio broadcasting giant Clear Channel is breaking into the TV production business.
The company announced Tuesday that it is taking a minority stake in the production company of "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest.
Ryan Seacrest Media produces "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and other spin-offs involving the celebrity family. Its other shows include "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution." In a separate deal, Clear Channel is joining with its majority investors, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, in committing $300 million to work with Seacrest's company to identify, acquire and develop innovative media companies.
At an All Things D conference Tuesday, Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman said the new venture will aim to break into the TV production market and use Clear Channel's massive radio network to help promote the shows.
He said the same formula helped launch the Fox network in the late 1980s.
"Their secret weapon was they used radio to promote their new shows," Pittman said. "So today, why can't we use our own advertising for Ryan's shows and give them a lift?" Seacrest will remain majority owner of his company, which will keep producing shows for network and studio partners such as Comcast Corp.'s NBC-Universal. -- AP
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