B.A.S.S. announced today that it's completed its deal with Career Sports Entertainment (CSE) to acquire JM Associates, the media production company founded by Jerry McKinnis (one of three private investors who purchased B.A.S.S. last fall).
A pioneer in outdoor television, JM Associates has produced The Bassmasters television show for ESPN for 10 years, receiving an Emmy nomination for the show in 2008. Its roots date back to 1963, when McKinnis launched his first television fishing show on a local station in Little Rock, Ark. It produced McKinnis’ program, The Fishin’ Hole, which debuted on ESPN in 1981, as well as most other Outdoor Block programming on the network for the past three decades.
“Having JM Associates as part of the family will make the B.A.S.S. media operations completely seamless," McKinnis said. "It will enable us to expand our media in every direction, and even beyond freshwater fishing. We’re especially excited about opportunities to create compelling programming from a treasure of video archives.”
Said CSE founder and CEO Lonnie Cooper: “JM and B.A.S.S. will be a good fit; one that I believe will benefit the sportfishing industry in many ways. CSE and JM Associates will remain strategic partners as our companies continue to work together on existing and future projects.”
In addition to producing B.A.S.S.’s flagship television show for ESPN2 and Outdoor Channel, JM provides coverage of the Bassmaster Elite Series, the Bassmaster Classic and other professional events on Bassmaster.com. It also produces numerous other outdoor shows, including Spanish Fly, Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show, Madfin Shark Series, Stihl Timbersports Series, College Bass and The Saltwater Series.
