Disney is reportedly looking at selling some of its cable TV networks. With this Starz Entertainment Corp. has emerged as a potential bidder for A+E Global Media, the joint venture between Hearst Communications and Walt Disney Co. that operates the A+E Networks portfolio, including the flagship A+E channel, History, Lifetime, and several others. The interest comes as A+E has quietly put itself up for sale this year, engaging Wells Fargo to gauge interest from strategic and financial buyers according to a report from Bloomberg.
Following its separation from Lionsgate earlier in 2025, Starz has been repositioned as an independent midsize player with a premium cable channel and a growing direct-to-consumer streaming service anchored by franchises such as Outlander and the Power universe. Acquiring A+E would instantly expand Starz’s content library with thousands of hours of unscripted programming, documentaries, and reality series while adding stable cash flow from the remaining linear television operations. Industry observers see the move as part of a broader consolidation wave among second-tier entertainment companies searching for scale in an era when standalone streaming services struggle to reach profitability.
The discussions remain preliminary, and momentum appears limited. A+E’s owners are believed to prefer a buyer with deeper financial resources than the newly independent Starz, whose market capitalization has fallen to approximately $169 million since the Lionsgate split, while it carries roughly $609 million in debt. The valuation gap highlights the challenges facing smaller public entertainment companies in 2025, where investor skepticism about the long-term viability of linear television assets continues to pressure stock prices.
A+E’s portfolio, once a reliable profit center for its parents, has felt the same cord-cutting pressures that have eroded most cable networks. Viewership for History, long the group’s highest-rated channel, has declined by more than half over the past decade as audiences migrate to streaming platforms and short-form video. Lifetime and the namesake A+E channel have experienced similar erosion. Because A+E remains privately held, it avoids the daily scrutiny of public markets, but any sale price will still reflect the diminished outlook for traditional pay-TV bundles.
Other logical homes for the assets have their own complications. Comcast is in the late stages of spinning out most of its cable networks into a new entity tentatively called Versant, which could theoretically absorb A+E’s channels for cost synergies. Warner Bros. Discovery is executing its own separation of linear networks from the studio and streaming operations. Yet both conglomerates are preoccupied with larger balance-sheet repairs and streaming investments, making a sizable acquisition for declining cable channels a low priority.
Private equity firms have also circled the process, attracted by the steady cash flow that A+E networks still generate despite audience losses. For Starz, a successful bid would mark an aggressive bet that combining its premium scripted slate with A+E’s volume-driven unscripted content could create a more durable streaming offering. Whether Starz can muster the financing—or whether Hearst and Disney will lower their price expectations—remains uncertain as the auction continues into the final weeks of 2025.
The situation underscores the rapidly narrowing window for traditional media assets. With bundle economics deteriorating and advertising revenue shifting irrevocably to digital platforms, owners of linear networks face a shrinking pool of buyers willing to pay for businesses whose best days appear behind them. For Starz, landing A+E would represent a bold attempt to assemble critical mass in a consolidating industry. For now, the early-stage talks serve as another reminder that scale has become the primary currency in entertainment, and those without it are racing to find partners before the market decides their fate.
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