Bravo buys Television Without Pity

Came across this interesting news while perusing the personal blog of the Newark Star-Ledger's Alan Sepinwall: The Bravo network, part of the NBC Universal family, has bought Television Without Pity for an undisclosed sum.

In the deal, site founders Tara Ariano and Sara D. Bunting will remain on board as editors, and the site's other co-founder, lead designer and community engineer David T. Cole (who is Ariano's husband) will stay on as a manager of media technology production. The site will be part of the growing number of sites under the Bravo banner, including Brilliant But Cancelled, OutZoneTV.com, and getTrio.com. Ariano's side project, Fametracker.com, was also acquired.

According to Sepinwall, the founders told reporters on a conference call that they will retain full editorial control, which (for now) puts questions of their objectivity to rest. In other words, if they want to eviscerate Top Chef, they're still free to do so. FYI, they also told reporters that the recent closing of a TWoP message board thread on The Real Housewives of Orange County, a Bravo show, was merely a coincidence.