NBC's Silverman Sells His Production Company To A Murdoch

NBC Entertainment co-Chairman Ben Silverman on Wednesday sold his television production company to London-based Shine Ltd., owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth, for $125 million.

Formed in 2002, Reveille is one of the few major independent TV companies that has flourished in an era when media giants control both entertainment production and distribution.

Silverman said the sale was bittersweet. "I love Reveille. It was my baby, and a huge amount of energy, commitment and life force went into building it," Silverman said in an interview. "But I realized that I just wanted to focus 100% on NBC."

The transaction resolves some of the conflicts of interest posed by Silverman's dual role. Until the sale, Silverman had served as the top programming executive charged with picking shows for NBC's prime-time schedule and had been the sole shareholder of Reveille -- an arrangement approved by NBC when it hired the 37-year-old producer in June.

During the last nine months, Reveille has blossomed into one of NBC's most important programming suppliers. It has sold at least 14 shows and scripts to NBC for its prime-time schedule since Silverman joined the network. The flurry of sales boosted Reveille's assets and value.

Keep reading.

Previously:
Ben Silverman Buys Lots Of Shows...From Ben Silverman
NBC Wunderkind Silverman Lashes Out On "Moron," "D-Girl" Execs At ABC, Fox

Comments

[ErnestineBass]

To those of us in the teevee industry, this comes as no surprise. The minute Zucker the Fucker announced his intention to take an ax to NBC's pilot budget, Silverman put Reveille on the market.

IMHO, $125 million was a pittance.

[Paw1]

Awesome. Silverman sells his crappy, stolen-from-other-countries shows to himself, pumps the value of the asset and dumps it, presumably after NBC consults its attorneys and realizes he's violating a slew of anti-competitive and SOX regulations. Wanna bet Benny doesn't buy a single new show from Reveille after the sale? Wanna bet Benny creates a new company so he can sell his crappy, stolen-from-other-countries shows to himself again? It's a great country we live in...

[Durango]

How is this possible? Aren't there any anti-trust laws left?

(Silly me)

[BushisLiar]

How much did he get for his soul??

[oz4009]

apparently it's only worth $125 million.

[Careful]

He sold his soul? I thought he was selling a television production company.