Cable Channel

Concert giant AEG is teaming up with Ryan Seacrest, Mark Cuban and Hollywood powerhouse talent firm Creative Artists Agency to launch a pop culture and music cable channel that is expected to debut in June. Called AXS, the cable network primarily will carry live programming aimed at entertainment aficionados. It will include a heavy diet of music and concert coverage as well as lifestyle programming. Los Angeles-based AEG's downtown L.A. Live complex will serve as the network's on-air home.

Microsoft Corp. is in secret talks with General Electric Co.'s NBC about buying as much as 49% of the television network, according to a published report Sunday. Spokespersons at NBC and Microsoft could not be reached for comment, but high-level sources at both companies said they are doubtful that continuing talks between the two firms in the last several months are that wide-ranging in scope.

Financial News Network, best known for its 24-hour business news cable channel, said Monday that it may be placed in default on $48.5 million in bank loans because of a dispute with its outside auditors on how to account for start-up costs from a business venture begun earlier this year. The venture, named FNN: Pro, is a financial news service sold to retail stockbrokers and professional traders that was launched in July.

Fox Sports no longer is pulling any punches with Ultimate Fighting Championship, announcing a seven-year deal that brings mixed martial arts fights to the Fox broadcast network and Friday night events to the company's FX cable channel. Fox declined to disclose financial terms, but Sports Business Daily reported the multiyear package was worth as much as $90 million. The deal, announced Thursday, is significant because it elevates the sport of mixed martial arts to the television mainstream.

If you're excited by the news that CBS has launched its new cable channel, CBS Eye on People, you're also going to be frustrated. With just 2 million households hooked up nationwide, available cable slots few and far between, and network competitors NBC and Fox already off and running with their cable operations (NBC has MSNBC and CNBC, and Fox has the Fox News Channel), it's probably going to be a while before you see what I'm about to talk about.

Martha Stewart has a knack for transforming dated rooms into design showpieces. Now she's undertaking another major renovation: the Hallmark Channel. Beginning Monday, Stewart will provide eight hours of programming each weekday as part of an ambitious revamp of the Hallmark Channel. After pinning its fortunes on the broad appeal of sentimental made-for-TV movies and reruns of such classic shows as "The Golden Girls" and "Little House on the Prairie," Hallmark plans to focus on home and lifestyle improvement and cooking shows.

Hey, Kardashians! Make room for the Jonas Brothers and Tim Tebow.E! Entertainment is getting a makeover. Since it launched more than two decades ago, the sassy, celebrity-obsessed cable channel has basked in the glow of Hollywood glitz. For the last five years it has specialized in the high-profile exploits of Kim, Khloe, Kourtney and their mom, Kris. Now the channel that once featured a reality show about tabloid train wreck Anna Nicole Smith is widening its lens and trying to leave its trashy elements behind.

Tom Barrack has partnered with Leo Hindery on a bid for the Dodgers, bringing together a prominent Los Angeles billionaire with the founder of the New York Yankees' cable channel. The alliance was disclosed Sunday by a person familiar with the Dodgers sale process but not authorized to discuss it. Hindery and fellow New York financier Marc Utay lead one of at least eight groups that survived Friday's first cut among the bidders. That group had been one of the two prospective buyers known to remain in the bidding without a significant tie to Los Angeles.

It happened in its OWN time. After three years of planning, delays and management misfires, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network finally arrives Jan. 1, the biggest launch of a cable channel in more than a decade. Wall Street and the television industry are eager to see whether the celebrity who can unleash consumer trends can leverage the success of her 25-year run in daytime television into a 24-hour cable channel. The new channel is a mix of programming that encourages people to "live their best lives" with the empowerment message that is the Oprah Winfrey brand.

What better place to launch a cable channel with the lofty ambition of being the authority on movies than in the industry's own backyard? From its headquarters at the bustling Los Angeles Center Studios downtown, the new ReelzChannel resides in a complex where countless commercials, TV shows and movies are shot every year.