Combs eyes $200m Fuse bid

US cablenet Fuse has reportedly become the target of American hip hop star Sean Combs (aka Diddy) who is looking to buy the music-skewing channel.

Combs has bid around US$200m for the network according to Bloomberg, and plans to replace the network with his own channel Revolt TV, which he launched last year with the backing of US media conglomerate Comcast Corporation.

Revolt carries music videos, news and live performances, while Fuse has moved into original programming with shows such as scripted drama Hustle, reality show Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce and comedy series Billy on the Street.

The move would boost Revolt’s distribution of around 23 million homes considerably, with Fuse currently available in some 74 million households.

Fuse is owned by Madison Square Garden and hired JP Morgan last year to investigate a sale of the channel.

Combs launched Revolt, which also has a production division, in October and said the network would be “the first channel created entirely from the ground up in this new era of social media.”