• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, March 7, 2013

It’s time to spend other peoples’ money. That’s what investment banks do, right? And they get paid handsomely for it.

If Allen & Co. and Lazard can do it, so can MediaPost. So here it goes with the promise that all fees collected for advice to help the rich get richer will go to charity.

Who ever thought the Outdoor Channel would become such a hot property in the media business? But two wealthy entities are fighting over it with Stan Kroenke (a well-known sports entrepreneur) and Leo Hindery (a media one) at opposite ends.

InterMedia Partners, where Hindery is the founder, had a deal last fall to acquire Outdoor Channel Holdings with plans to merge it with the Sportsman Channel and run of outdoor enthusiast magazines it owns. The idea was to gain a level of multi-platform dominance in the outdoor media arena, covering hunting, fishing and shooting. With two networks, the company would have more leverage with distributors and a larger palate to offer advertisers.

InterMedia offered Outdoor Channel stockholders $8 a share or a share in the new company or a combination of both. InterMedia was to become the majority shareholder.

But then last week along came Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) controlled by Stan Kroenke with a bid to acquire the network for $8.75 a share. Outdoor Channel’s board studied the proposal and came to the conclusion it represented a more favorable deal than the InterMedia proposal.

InterMedia fought back, partly with the suggestion that taking an investment in the new company would be worth more than cashing out at $8.75 a share. That didn't carry the day. Now, InterMedia has several days to decide whether to come up with a new offer to top KSE.

Here’s the golden advice: KSE and InterMedia should drop the gloves and join forces to create a major outdoor sports entity via three steps.

1)      Pool resources to acquire Outdoor Channel.

2)      Merge it with Sportsman Channel and the enthusiast magazines.

3)      Meld in the World Fishing Network (WFN).

Voila: the new Outdoor Media, Inc.

Melding in the World Fishing Network (WFN) could be a bit complicated. KSE controls 50% of the channel, sharing ownership with Larry Tanebaum’s Insight Sports.

But KSE and InterMedia could together try and buy Tanebaum out, or offer him a stake in the new company, which would profit from its heft and exploit some synergies.

Stan Kroenke, who is already a major shareholder in the Outdoor Channel, controls multiple sports teams. Hindery helped launch the Yes Network and headed cable giant AT&T Broadband. (His partner Peter Kern apparently is spearheading the Outdoor Channel maneuvers at InterMedia.) And, the Canadian Tanebaum holds a stake in the NHL Network as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors.

The three wealthy men surely know each other. At least Kroenke and Tanenbaum do, with both involved with the NBA and NHL.

Making Outdoor Media, Inc. a reality -- where it would have resources to spare to make more acquisitions -- would seem to be intuitive. So, thanks to MediaPost, a charity is about get very lucky.