The Huffington Post announced Sunday that it has formed a partnership with Mark Cuban's AXS TV to bring its streaming network HuffPost Live to cable television.
Under the terms of the deal, "HuffPost Live on AXS TV" will air for 6 hours a day from Monday through Friday on AXS TV, which is currently available in 41 million homes. The programming block will launch on May 13. The collaboration gives HuffPost Live a chance for a wider audience, as well as a foothold in cable. It gives AXS TV the opportunity to introduce original daytime programming, and to increase its level of social and web engagement.
In a statement, Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, said the partnership was ideal.
"Given its focus on becoming the premier cable destination for live programming, AXS TV is a perfect fit for HuffPost Live’s real-time coverage of the day’s news, and a great opportunity to bring social engagement to TV,” Huffington said.
Roy Sekoff, president of HuffPost Live, told the New York Times that the deal was an opportunity to get the network's content seen by an audience that may not be getting its news and information online. "It’s an opportunity for both of us to grow our audiences during the day," he said.
The Hollywood Reporter wrote that there will be "an on-screen viewer comment stream to encourage real-time participation from viewers," and that a special AXS TV app will be created over the summer.
Ad Age reported that there will be differences between the online and AXS TV versions of HuffPost Live:
The feed provided to AXS TV won't be the same as the one that "airs" on the web, but it will be similar brew of talk about storylines drawn from The Huffington Post's 80 content verticals from lifestyle to crime.