Discovery Holders Set to Vote

Mark your calendars. Discovery Holding filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission last Wednesday, targeting its Sept. 16 annual meeting in Englewood, Colo., for a shareholder vote that would consolidate the ownership interests of its partners and make the group of popular cable networks a truly publicly traded company.

Discovery Holding announced in June that it intended to contribute its 66.7% interest in Discovery Communications Inc. and Advance/Newhouse Communications would kick in its 33.3% interest in DCI into a newly publicly traded company.

Advance/Newhouse would have its voting control of the new entity reduced to 26%, but would receive three seats on the board of directors and would still retain its veto power over major decisions, including acquisitions and management. The current Discovery Communications management team, led by CEO David Zaslav, would fill all management positions at the new entity.

In a proxy statement filed late on Aug. 6 Discovery Holding said the shareholder vote would be held at its annual meeting, set for Sept. 16 at Starz Entertainment headquarters in Englewood, Colo.

According to the proxy statement, holders of record of Discovery Holding stock as of Aug. 5 will be entitled to vote at the annual meeting. The document stated that an affirmative vote of at least a majority of the aggregate voting power of the shares outstanding is required for the deal to be approved.