SiTV Media agreed to buy Fuse from The Madison Square Garden Co. for $226 million.
MSG will also have a 15% stake in the combined company and a seat on the SiTV Media board of directors.
SiTV already owns NUVOtv, a network targeting Hispanic viewers best known because singer Jennifer Lopez (pictured) is a shareholder and serves as its chief operating officer. NUVOtv is currently in 32 million homes.
“The acquisition of Fuse represents a transformational event for us and also provides significant benefits to NUVOtv,” David Schwimmer, CEO of SiTV Media, said in a statement. “It enhances our distribution relationships, dramatically expands our aggregate subscriber base, provides substantial economies of scale, affords unique opportunities for programming and cross-promotion and should be extremely appealing to the advertising community as we roll out our plans for both NUVOtv and Fuse.”
The companies said the networks will operate independently.
Fuse is a music network that attracts very young viewers but has never been able to generate significant ratings. It is in 73 million homes. As part of the acquisition, NUVOtv plans to utilize Fuse’s current street front studio on Seventh Avenue across from Madison Square Garden.
"Music is my first love so the acquisition of Fuse is near and dear to my heart,” Lopez said. “It’s exciting that between NUVOtv and Fuse we’ll have the ability to deliver a broad array of terrific content both from a Latino perspective and across multiple genres, including music, to a broader audience. The acquisition of Fuse means we now own two wonderful assets. It’s a phenomenal time for our company and we look forward to growing both networks in the years ahead.”
