Liberty Media to Spin Off Starz

by Alyssa Oursler | August 8, 2012 12:13 pm

Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ:LMCB[1]), the holding company controlled by billionaire John Malone, has announced plans to spin off cable channel Starz[2], allowing investors to directly bet on the channel and putting it in a better position to possibly merge with a different company.

Starz, which owns the Starz and Encore networks, competes with Time Warner‘s (NYSE:TWX[3]) HBO and CBS‘s (NYSE:CBS[4]) Showtime. It began as a movie channel and has since expanded into original programming

Liberty, on the other hand, could also possible be able to pursue a deal with Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI[5]), a company that already makes up 46% of its portfolio.

Other LMCB holdings include Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS[6]), Time Warner and Viacom (NASDAQ:VIAB[7])

LMCB now has a market cap around $12 billion, while Starz will likely be worth more than $2 billion. Shares of LMCB were up slightly on the news.

Endnotes:
  1. LMCB: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=LMCB
  2. spin off cable channel Starz: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443404004577576780634200956.html
  3. TWX: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=TWX
  4. CBS: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CBS
  5. SIRI: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SIRI
  6. BKS: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=BKS
  7. VIAB: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=VIAB

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