Snoop Dogg will join Ice Cube's $10B bid to buy the 21 Fox RSNs as a content partnerGETTY IMAGES
Ice Cube’s Big3 basketball league has "secured the support" of Serena Williams and Snoop Dogg as content partners for its $10B bid to buy the 21 Fox RSNs from Disney, according to sources cited by Nabila Ahmed of BLOOMBERG NEWS. Private equity firm Centerbridge Partners and entrepreneur Carolyn Rafaelian are already financial backers of the Big3, and Ice Cube is now "teaming up" with Williams, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart and Michael Strahan’s SMAC Productions as "content partners." Sources said that the Big3 presented a plan to "expand the Fox networks with 24-hour, culturally diverse national programming built around live sports." Ice Cube and Big3 co-Founder Jeff Kwatinetz are "targeting young people and want to spend money on marketing and advertising the networks." Rappers Nas and LL Cool J are also "collaborators on the project" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 3/24).
MORENO OUT OF BIDDING: Angels Owner Arte Moreno yesterday indicated that he has "withdrawn from the bidding" for FS West and Prime Ticket, the two Fox RSNs based in L.A. Moreno said, "I’ve watched that very closely. I was participating for a while. I’m not participating. There came a time where I made a decision to say, I have other things I need to do.” Moreno last month first indicated his interest in the two channels (Bill Shaikin, L.A. TIMES, 3/25).
