Two years after completing its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM Studios, Amazon is looking to shed one of the big TV assets from that deal.
The tech giant is looking to sell MGM Alternative, the unscripted production company behind shows like CBS’ Survivor, NBC’s The Voice, ABC’s Shark Tank, and Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, among other productions, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The company has been approached by a number of possible suitors, though there is no guarantee a deal will come to fruition. Unscripted TV remains a staple of broadcast TV, cable and streaming, and MGM Alternative has a number of reality franchises (many of them brought to it via mega-producer Mark Burnett, who used to run the division). MGM acquired Burnett’s production company a decade ago, and he left the company after the Amazon acquisition.
MGM Alternative also owns Vanderpump and Real Housewives producer Evolution Media, as well as Big Fish Entertainment, which produces Reelz Channel’s On Patrol Live.
The sale, if it happens, would make for a slimming down of the MGM assets after Amazon completed the MGM deal two years ago. Across Amazon’s media businesses and Prime Video, there has been a push toward franchise-based entertainment, as with The Lord of the Rings, and with live sports, with the company recently securing NBA rights. It is not entirely clear where unscripted fits into that larger strategy, even if the studio is itself profitable.
Deadline first reported the interest in selling the company.
