Peter Chernin Plans New $500 Million New Media Fund — Report

Dawn C. Chmielewski

Updated Thu, June 28, 2018 at 1:29 AM UTC

Media mogul Peter Chernin is planning to raise a new media fund of more than $500 million, opening a new chapter for the digitally savvy executive who has been one of Hollywood’s technology innovators.

The tech news site The Information’s report tonight of Chernin raising a fund comes on the heels of a story last week that AT&T is contemplating buying all of Otter Media, the internet video company it jointly owns with The Chernin Group.

The deal has been contemplated for a while, but AT&T elected to wait for the Justice Department’s antitrust suit seeking to block the Time Warner merger to play out in federal district court before making a move to acquire Otter, Recode reported.

Both AT&T and The Chernin Group declined comment.

The sale of Otter Media, which some value in excess of $1 billion, would throw off significant cash to fuel a fresh round of tech investments.

Chernin’s career has been marked by his embrace of technological innovation.

As chief operating officer at Fox, Chernin was a leading proponent of creating Hulu, the streaming service that threatened to upend existing pay TV business but positioned its media owners — Fox, NBCUniversal and Disney — for a cord-cutting future.

With Otter Media, Chernin built a streaming service that serves passionate fan communities with a programming bundle that includes Rooster Teeth’s First, AMC’s horror channel Shudder and movie studio Legendary’s to digital publishers, Nerdist and Geek & Sundry.

Chernin and his executive team also have experience incubating and scaling digital media companies like Fullscreen, which started out as a YouTube network but has subsequently branched out into touring and merchandise sales.

Entertainment News

Peter Chernin Plans New $500 Million New Media Fund — Report

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