UPDATE 1-Lionsgate sells 49 pct stake in TV Guide
* Lions Gate agrees to sell 49 pct TV Guide stake
* Stake sold to One Equity Partners, Allen Shapiro
* Lions Gate to get $125 mln for stake
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES, May 28 (Reuters) - Independent film studio Lions Gate Entertainment Corp (LGF.N) said on Thursday it agreed to sell a 49 percent stake in the TV Guide channel for $125 million to One Equity Partners and media entrepreneur Allen Shapiro.
The deal brings Lions Gate, which bought TV Guide and the TVGuide.com Web site in March for $255 million, together with an investor group that had previously reached a deal to buy TV Guide from then-owner Macrovision Solutions Corp MVSN.O.
In January, Macrovision terminated the deal with One Equity Partners, a private equity branch of JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), and Shapiro, former CEO of Dick Clark Productions, to instead sell TV Guide to Lions Gate.
A person familiar with the deal said the cash infusion from One Equity Partners will help Lions Gate advance its plans to transform TV Guide into an entertainment network similar to NBC Universal's Bravo channel and News Corp's (NWSA.O) FX channel, or Cablevision System Corp's (CVC.N) AMC channel.
One Equity Partners said it also retained the option of buying another 1 percent under certain circumstances. (Editing by Derek Caney)
