Hearst lands on Litton acquisition

US media giant Hearst has acquired a majority stake in producer and distributor Litton Entertainment.

The firm specialises in family-skewing entertainment and produces more than 800 hours of scripted and unscripted programming for broadcast networks and station groups each year.

The deal, financial details of which were not disclosed, is expected to close by February 1.

Litton Entertainment is headquartered in Charleston, with offices in New York, Boston and Burbank. It is headed up by founder, president and CEO Dave Morgan, who spent time early in his career at Hearst.

“Providing quality, family-friendly programming to viewers is an important tenet of Hearst Television and adding Litton’s assets and expertise to our company through this partnership will be a terrific complement to our business,” said Hearst Television president Jordan Wertlieb.

Hearst’s TV assets include stakes in cable television networks A&E, History, Lifetime and ESPN. It has also invested in digital media firms such as BuzzFeed, Vice and AwesomenessTV.