By India McCarty
It’s official: Lionsgate Studios and Starz are officially splitting.
“The Supreme Court of British Columbia has granted an order approving the full separation of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.’s Studio and STARZ businesses into two independent, publicly-traded companies,” an official press release from Lionsgate stated.
Lionsgate and Starz have been working on a separation for the last three years, but the pandemic and the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes slowed things down. The split is intended “to ultimately create more market value for both,” per Deadline.
Lionsgate-Starz Separation Greenlit by Supreme Court of British Columbia https://t.co/2i1bR4fJUb
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) May 5, 2025
“We didn’t know there would be a pandemic, writer strikes and and then, somewhere along the way, we made a fantastic acquisition of eOne,” Lionsgate CFO James Barge said earlier this year. “So there have been quite a few things. But we are definitely there.”
Barge added that the split deal has “been all about valuation, helping drive shareholder value, where we don’t feel as a combined company that we’re getting the valuation. We look like a conglomerate media company in the space that is competing with…the Comcasts and the Disneys, when in reality Starz is a completely unique business, totally misunderstood.”
So, what does this mean for the two companies?
Lionsgate will now operate “strictly as a content studio,” according to The Wrap, focusing on monetizing its content library. Meanwhile, Starz “will have more autonomy to explore distribution and bundling opportunities that may conflict with Lionsgate’s broader priorities.”
Related: Lionsgate and Starz Finalize Split
TheWrap also noted that this split makes Lionsgate and Starz “more attractive to potential buyers.”
Just because they’ve separated doesn’t mean the studios will end their working relationship. Lionsgate and Starz recently extended their multi-year output deal through 2028, giving Starz “exclusive rights in the first pay-television and SVOD windows” for Lionsgate’s upcoming theatrical releases.
“Starz will also have an exclusive second window and third window,” TheWrap explained, adding that the deal also gives them “expanded access” to almost 20 of Lionsgate’s theatrical titles each year. Some upcoming releases include the third installment in the NOW YOU SEE ME series, THE HUNGER GAMES: SUNRISE ON THE REAPING and BALLERINA.
Lionsgate Television will also continue to work closely with Starz, producing ongoing TV series, like the POWER franchise, as well as giving them the option of licensing new series to Starz.
The Lionsgate-Starz split has been a long time coming, and it looks like both companies are glad to be separated — and looking forward to the financial benefits of their dissolved partnership.
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