The Weinstein Company Mulls TV Unit Spinoff: Report

With Oscar season still off in the distance, the Weinstein Company has found another way to make headlines. The film-focused company is looking at spinning off its television unit as a separate entity for a potential sale or IPO, The New York Times reports. The paper cited sources as saying Harvey Weinstein is seeking a cash infusion in order to expand with one or more TV channels. The company launched its small-screen unit in 2011 with Meryl Poster, who worked at Miramax for 16 years, at the helm. NYT cited sources as saying the television unit accounts for about 40 percent of the company’s business. TWC produces more than 20 reality series including Bravo’s long-running Project Runway and its spinoffs, VH1′s Mob Wives and A&E’s Cement Heads. Lifetime last month ordered eight episodes of Threads, which The Weinstein Company is producing with Full Picture and Sara Rea Productions. Bob and Harvey Weinstein are among its exec producers. The TV unit is moving into the scripted arena with Marco Polo, a nine-episode Netflix limited series that’s filming at the new Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios for a late-2014 premiere.
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