Seacrest hooks up with cuban hdnet

Ryan Seacrest has come aboard the HDNet cable channel to help transform it into an outlet for entertainment and lifestyle shows.

The channel will be renamed AXS TV this summer.

Seacrest’s company signed on with a joint venture that also includes talent agency CAA and events promoter AEG, along with HDNet’s chairman, Mark Cuban.

The announcement Wednesday said the new channel will present “behind-the-scenes access” to concerts and premieres. HDNet’s current mixed-martial arts coverage and Dan Rather news reports will continue.

“We’re going to be able to take what I had hoped to do with HDNet – which was to be live, live, live – and accelerate that considerably,” Cuban told the New York Times.