Cakes for everyone! A+E Networks has entered a multi-platform creative partnership with Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro. The deal includes more than 60 hours of original programming, including the development of multiple new series and holiday specials produced by A+E’s factual division, Six West Media, in association with Cakehouse Media.
As part of the pact, Valastro and his family will star in an upcoming Lifetime Holiday Movie. Valastro will serve as an executive producer on all projects, which will be produced for A+E Networks portfolio of brands and distributed worldwide by A+E.
“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,” said Rob Sharenow, president of programming for A+E Networks, in a statement. “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.”
“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,” added Valastro in a statement. “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.”
Valastro pioneered what is called the custom cake movement with his long-standing family business Carlo’s Bakery and his hit TLC series Cake Boss. He’s written New York Times best-selling books and launched four hit television shows while Carlo’s Bakery, established in 1910, is a family-owned business with 12 locations nationally and numerous Cake ATM locations in North America.