Variety: Warner Bros. Discovery’s ‘Cake Boss’ Buddy Valastro Signs A+E Networks Deal, Including Lifetime Holiday Movie

Story from Variety:

“Cake Boss” star Buddy Valastro, a longtime staple in the Warner Bros. Discovery lifestyle brands family, is making A+E Networks his new TV home.

The cable giant has signed custom cake whiz Valastro, who rose to fame through his TLC reality series “Cake Boss,” which is centered on his long-standing family business Carlo’s Bakery, to a multi-platform creative partnership.

The pact encompasses more than 60 hours of original programming, including development of multiple new series and holiday specials produced by A+E’s Six West Media, in association with Valastro’s Cakehouse Media. One of those projects will be a Lifetime holiday movie starring Valastro and his family. Valastro will executive produce all of the A+E projects under this pact, which will be produced for A+E Networks brands and distributed worldwide by A+E.

The move of Valastro to A+E Networks from Warner Bros. Discovery, where he starred on not just “Cake Boss,” but several other TLC and Food Network series and specials, comes as WBD is in the midst of an ongoing post-merger shakeup and as A+E Networks continues to look for new programming lanes following the cancellation of “Live P.D.”

“Buddy is not only a powerhouse in the culinary world, he is an incredible talent who shares our passion to create the type of quality content that has made A+E Networks a leader in factual entertainment,” Rob Sharenow, president of programming for A+E Networks, said. “Buddy will bolster A+E Networks’ industry-leading lifestyle genre catalogue as a bona fide star with a tremendous fanbase. The fact that he is a passionate creative partner is icing on the cake.”

Valastro added: “Our partnership with A+E is everything my family and I were looking for in a home on television – a media company with worldwide reach and distribution and thoughtful creative partners who can execute our shared vision from development to broadcast. I look forward to a long and successful collaboration with the incredible team at A+E and to bringing audiences the shows they crave, as we continue to grow as a business and a family.”