A Shark Week-House Hunters crossover is now closer to reality
Discovery, which owns channels like Animal Planet and TLC, agrees to buy the company behind Food Network and HGTV.
- She has a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University.
Maybe the Property Brothers will find Big Foot.
"Finding Bigfoot" and "House Hunters" are about to have more in common than the reality TV-crafted thrill of the chase.
Discovery Communications, which owns channels like The Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, will acquire Scripps Networks Interactive, home of HGTV, Food Network and more, for $11.9 billion, the companies said Monday.
The two companies are combining because they want to more effectively deliver you commercials. Once combined, Discovery will account for nearly a fifth of the ad-supported pay-TV audience in the US, and about 8,000 hours of original programming every year. That's equivalent to more than 11,000 episodes of "Fixer Upper."
Discovery Communications and Scripps Networks Interactive didn't immediately respond to requests for comment as to how the acquisition might affect programming. Perhaps we'll see crossovers between shows and networks.
"This agreement with Discovery presents an unmatched opportunity for Scripps to grow its leading lifestyle brands across the world and on new and emerging channels including short-form, direct-to-consumer and streaming platforms," said Kenneth W. Lowe, Scripps Networks Interactive's chairman, president and CEO, in a statement.