Ion, PMC In Deal For News Service

PMC and Ion Television announced today the launch of Entertainment News Television (ENTV), an original multiplatform breaking news service.  ENTV will leverage the breaking news reporting of PMC’s core entertainment brands, including Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com, Bonnie Fuller’s HollywoodLife.com, Michael Ausiello’s TVLine.com and Movieline.com, to deliver breaking entertainment and celebrity news on Ion Television and the Web, simultaneously.

The two companies say the partnership “is the first time that leading online brands and a national television network will release daily content concurrently.” With daily hosted video segments, ENTV will offer breaking entertainment stories directly from PMC’s reporters and sources.

“We are excited to partner with Ion in a way that recognizes the value of our strong brands and audience of 12-million-plus avid, devoted consumers,” said Jay Penske, founder and CEO of PMC. “ENTV and this partnership with Ion allow us to connect and extend both of our audiences in a truly unique way, widening the reach of our content and bringing more passionate entertainment consumers exclusives and breaking news first — as it happens.”

“This innovative agreement allows us to benefit from the successful and explosive reporting which PMC’s family of entertainment sites brings to the marketplace, while allowing Ion to bring this news to our viewers first, before it hits any of the other traditional entertainment outlets,” said Brandon Burgess, chairman-CEO of Ion Media Networks. “ENTV is one of the first of many strategic steps in the coming months which will enhance Ion’s high-quality programming with original content.”

The breaking news service content partnership follows on the heels of the collaboration between the two entertainment companies when Ion aired the first televised Young Hollywood Awards, owned and produced by PMC, in May.