Liberty to spin off Discovery and Ascent to create new public company

by Staff , Brand Republic 15-Mar-05, 14:45

LONDON – Liberty Media, which owns home-shopping channel QVC and is a major shareholder in News Corporation, has said it plans to spin off its interests in Discovery Communications and Ascent Media to create a new publicly traded company.

News of the move came as Liberty Media Corp, which is controlled by media mogul John Malone, reported it had losses of $21.1m (£11m) in the fourth quarter as revenues jumped to $778m.

The new company, Discovery Holding Company, will comprise Liberty's 100% ownership in Santa Monica, California-based Ascent, formerly known as Liberty Livewire, which offers post-production services to film and television producers, and its 50% share of Discovery.

Discovery Communications, which has a co-production deal with the BBC, owns the Discover Channel, The Learning Channel, Travel Channel and Animal Planet. The remaining 50% of Discovery is owned by Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse Communications, which own 25% each of the company.

Liberty's interactive unit owns the QVC home shopping network, OpenTV Corp, On Command Corp, Ascent Media Group and stakes in Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp.

Liberty's networks unit operates the Starz Encore Group, and it owns stakes in: Discovery Communications Inc; Court TV, which it has a 50% stake in; GSN; and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

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