Could CBS buy Starz? Implications on Outlander, American Gods, more
According to The Information, months ago CBS Corporation made an informal offer of about $5 billion in order to purchase the aforementioned cable network, one that falls now mostly under Lionsgate leadership after its own acquisition. News of the move led to Lionsgate shares rising, and of course plenty of discussions — even though the offer was reportedly turned down. (CBS may be looking to combine it with an acquisition of Viacom.)
So what makes this whole report so interesting/ It’s mostly the idea of CBS looking to expand their portfolio, but then also Starz potentially falling under the leadership of a larger network, one that knows a thing or two when it comes to premium programming already. CBS already has ownership of Showtime, a network that has hits aplenty in between Shameless, Homeland, Billions, and a number of other programs. Consider that all of the evidence you really need that they wouldn’t be buying up Starz just to dramatically alter its content. Shows like Outlander or American Gods could continue to do what they currently do.
The larger question that you should wonder is if such a purchase takes shape, what it would actually mean for some of the network’s programming. Would CBS taking over Starz mean bad news for shows like Outlander or Vida? A lot would obviously depend on if they are still on the air at that time, but fundamentally, we wouldn’t see there being any issues. CBS already works with a number of outside studios already on some of their shows, so it’s not like they would be so opposed to collaborating with Lionsgate on some of its shows established there — or, in the case of Outlander, working with the people over at Sony Pictures TV (who operate behind the scenes of the series). There’s no reason to think that new leadership would suddenly want to cut ties with Outlander.
For now, just remember this: There’s no guarantee that such a deal will actually happen, as for now what we’ve seen is mostly an “informal” conversation and it doesn’t seem as though some sort of big change is imminent. Corporate restructuring can occasionally mean changes in terms of programming (just look at what’s happening over at Fox for some evidence of that), but in this case, it doesn’t have to mean that. CBS knows programming better than almost anyone; if they want to be successful with some of their shows, they likely know some of the best ways to do so. They’re not going to just eradicate some of Starz’s biggest hits without reason.
As we are certainly invested in most of this sort of coverage, we’ll for sure have some other information the moment that it starts to trickle in.
Photo: CBS