ICM Acquires Sports, TV Agency

ICM Partners acquired Headline Media Management, which reps TV news and sports personalities in an equity deal announced Feb. 8.

Headline CEO Lou Oppenheim and president Michael Glantz will join ICM as partners, where they will head up a new broadcasting department.

Among Headline’s clients are “Today” co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, ESPN’s Chris Berman, Meredith Viera and baseball announcer Keith Hernandez, according to the Los Angeles Times.

ICM becomes the latest major agency to acquire a smaller boutique shop handling sports and TV on-air talent.

UTA acquired Bienstock Agency, home of Bill O’Reilly and Anderson Cooper, in 2014, the paper reports.

CAA has its own stable and recently represented former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in her deal to join NBC.

The acquisition gives ICM a foothold in in TV news and sports, and gives Headline scale to compete with bigger players.

“Lou and Michael have built an incredibly successful business representing clients at the forefront of sports and news broadcasting,” ICM Partners’ Chris Silbermann and Ted Chervin said in a joint statement quoted by the Times.

“Their client-first approach to representation perfectly aligns with the way we run our company.”

Headline Media Management formed in 2004 but operated for more than 35 years under various names including SFX Media Group.