A former executive with NBC/Universal and Paramount Skydance has launched a new venture designed to acquire and manage linear TV assets, according to TheWrap.
Jeff Shell, who resigned as president and board member of Paramount Skydance last spring, is leading up the private investment firm which would focus on what he terms “declining assets,” identified as cable TV services, or local TV stations or station groups and would use the revenues to develop adjacent businesses, according to the report.
The new firm is expected to launch in early 2027 but Shell is already talking with Redbird Capital Partners for financial backing. Shell was with Redbird, one of the financial backers of Skydance’s $8 billion acquisition, when the planned merger was announced two years ago, becoming a part of Skydance’s executive team after the announcement.
A former executive with NBCUniversal, Shell left the network after accusations of sexual harassment from Hadley Gamble, correspondent for CNBC. Shell admitted that their relationship was “inappropriate.”
RedBird’s other investments in M&E and sports include: EverPass Media, Front Office Sports, UFL, Puck, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity, Affleck’s InterPositive, Banijay Entertainment, Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro’s Mari.
