CBS Partners With Content Supplier Kapital Entertainment
February 10 2017 - 10:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
CBS Corp. has formed a partnership with Kapital Entertainment,
an independent television production company that has become a
prolific supplier of content in recent years, the broadcaster said
Friday.
Under the terms of the agreement, CBS will take an ownership
stake in Kapital Entertainment and provide co-financing for its
programming investments. CBS will also be able to distribute
Kapital's shows around the globe.
However, Kapital will remain independent and operate separately
from CBS Television Studios and the CBS network.
Headed by former agent Aaron Kaplan, Kapital has programs on
broadcast, cable and streaming services including the ABC comedy
"American Housewife," HBO's "Divorce" and Netflix's new zombie
comedy "Santa Clarita Diet" starring Drew Barrymore. For CBS,
Kapital is a producer of the comedy "Life in Pieces."
The partnership is different from the typical arrangement in
which a producer signs an exclusive deal with one studio such as
the agreement between comedy producer Chuck Lorre and Warner Bros.
Kapital will continue to have the ability to partner with multiple
studios and networks as it already does on its shows.
"This reflects a new era," said CBS Chief Executive Leslie
Moonves. "It affords Aaron a great deal of freedom. I want him to
have hit shows on CBS, but also NBC, ABC and Fox." The agreement
with CBS also doesn't preclude Kapital from selling stakes in its
shows to other networks or working with their studios.
Mr. Kaplan said the venture will allow Kapital to "continue to
foster an artistic vision" and remain "nimble and flexible."
Finance, he added, was not the main driver for the deal. "We did
this because we saw an opportunity to create enterprise value
without limiting our ability to work with other studios and
networks," he said.
The first show in the works under the partnership is a family
comedy for CBS called "9J, 9K and 9L." Kapital also has new shows
in development at ABC, Fox and Freeform, the cable network formerly
known as ABC Family.
Messrs. Kaplan and Moonves have children in the same school and
often on the playground discussed the state of the television
business. "This guy's done an amazing job of getting content out
there," Mr. Moonves said. "That he has us backing him will make his
chance for success all the higher."
Mr. Moonves didn't rule out looking for similar partnerships
with producers. "Owning content is really important," he said.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 10, 2017 10:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
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