November 4, 2005 -- Brian Bedol pulled the same trick twice.
Bedol, who two years ago founded the college sports network (CSTV) with about $100 million, agreed yesterday to sell the network to Viacom for $325 million.
This is becoming familiar terrain for Bedol and his partner Steve Greenberg, a partner at investment firm Allen & Co. In 1995, the pair founded the Classic Sports Network and two years later sold out to ESPN for $185 million. The channel is now known as ESPN Classic.
"As an independent, there's a certain level you can take it," Bedol said. "After that you realize that it takes a lot more resources to realize your goals than you have as an independent."
Viacom's CBS unit, which will become a standalone public company after the media giant completes its split in early 2006, is making the purchase, and once the deal closes Bedol will remain as CSTV chief and report to Les Moonves, CBS' top executive. Bedol's top deputy, Chris Bevilacqua, will also remain once the acquisition closes.
The deal was first discussed between Moonves and Bedol on a golf course last summer during Allen & Co.'s annual gathering of media moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho.
CSTV will work closely with CBS Sports, which airs many of the premier college sporting events, including the men's NCAA basketball tournament. "Through this transaction, we will now have the ability to help those consumers transition from the mass media of CBS Sports to the personalized media of the Web, and many points in between," Bedol said. "Taking our partnership with CBS to this level is the ideal way to solidify our growing business."
For CBS, the purchase is an indication that Moonves plans to expand into cable networks as he transitions to running his own public company. Moonves' current counterpart as co-chief operating officer of Viacom, Tom Freston, will take Viacom's current stable of networks — which includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central — with him after the split.
"Putting our existing resources and events together with these great cable and online assets makes tremendous sense," Moonves said. "In bringing our operations under one roof, our presence in the college sports community grows even stronger, and the programming possibilities on national cable, regional sports networks and the Internet are exciting indeed."
CSTV features 30 men's and women's college sports events and will have nearly 15 million subscribers by year end. The online operations include more than 250 official college athletic Web sites, with 19 million unique users.
Under CBS, the network plans to launch regional sports networks in 2006 featuring the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA, which includes schools such as Utah, Brigham Young, Southern Mississippi and Marshall, among others.
http://www.nypost.com/business/53937.htm
Bedol, who two years ago founded the college sports network (CSTV) with about $100 million, agreed yesterday to sell the network to Viacom for $325 million.
This is becoming familiar terrain for Bedol and his partner Steve Greenberg, a partner at investment firm Allen & Co. In 1995, the pair founded the Classic Sports Network and two years later sold out to ESPN for $185 million. The channel is now known as ESPN Classic.
"As an independent, there's a certain level you can take it," Bedol said. "After that you realize that it takes a lot more resources to realize your goals than you have as an independent."
Viacom's CBS unit, which will become a standalone public company after the media giant completes its split in early 2006, is making the purchase, and once the deal closes Bedol will remain as CSTV chief and report to Les Moonves, CBS' top executive. Bedol's top deputy, Chris Bevilacqua, will also remain once the acquisition closes.
The deal was first discussed between Moonves and Bedol on a golf course last summer during Allen & Co.'s annual gathering of media moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho.
CSTV will work closely with CBS Sports, which airs many of the premier college sporting events, including the men's NCAA basketball tournament. "Through this transaction, we will now have the ability to help those consumers transition from the mass media of CBS Sports to the personalized media of the Web, and many points in between," Bedol said. "Taking our partnership with CBS to this level is the ideal way to solidify our growing business."
For CBS, the purchase is an indication that Moonves plans to expand into cable networks as he transitions to running his own public company. Moonves' current counterpart as co-chief operating officer of Viacom, Tom Freston, will take Viacom's current stable of networks — which includes MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central — with him after the split.
"Putting our existing resources and events together with these great cable and online assets makes tremendous sense," Moonves said. "In bringing our operations under one roof, our presence in the college sports community grows even stronger, and the programming possibilities on national cable, regional sports networks and the Internet are exciting indeed."
CSTV features 30 men's and women's college sports events and will have nearly 15 million subscribers by year end. The online operations include more than 250 official college athletic Web sites, with 19 million unique users.
Under CBS, the network plans to launch regional sports networks in 2006 featuring the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA, which includes schools such as Utah, Brigham Young, Southern Mississippi and Marshall, among others.
http://www.nypost.com/business/53937.htm
