Liberty Global and Discovery Communications Take Stakes in Lions Gate

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John C. Malone, the media and telecommunications billionaire, has never been one to shy away from making deals. And in a year when he helped orchestrate one of the biggest cable transactions in recent years, he has struck another play.

Liberty Global, one of the parts of Mr. Malone’s empire, and Discovery Communications, where the mogul is the biggest shareholder, said on Tuesday that they had each taken a 3.4 percent stake in Lions Gate Entertainment.

Both Liberty and Discovery are paying about $195 million for their stakes, buying them from MHR Fund Management, the investment vehicle of Mark Rachesky, the chairman of Lions Gate. Mr. Malone himself took a 3.4 percent stake in Lions Gate in February and already sits on the board.

In return, the two companies will forge licensing ties with Lions Gate, the home of “Mad Men” and the “Hunger Games” franchise.

The transactions are another sign that media companies are forging closer ties, as telecoms gain more clout. Many content producers have believed that gaining scale would give them better negotiating standing with access providers — with Mr. Malone at the vanguard of calling for more deals.

Mr. Rachesky, meanwhile, has also believed that Lions Gate needed powerful partners to continue growing.

“I was a very early believer in the value of content, and these new strategic relationships with two of the pre-eminent programming and distribution platforms in the world help position us to take the company to the next level,” Mr. Rachesky said in a statement.

Negotiations took place over several months, though the companies had held informal discussions for far longer, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deals ensure that MHR Fund Management remains the biggest shareholder, and they give Lions Gate closer ties to two important companies in the media and telecom world. Liberty will help provide additional distribution in regions like Europe and South America, while Discovery provides a big platform for the company’s content.

Mr. Malone, Liberty and Discovery will be capped at a combined stake of 18.5 percent over the next five years, with voting rights representing 13.5 percent over that same time.

As part of Tuesday’s deals, Liberty Global’s chief executive, Michael T. Fries, and his counterpart at Discovery, David M. Zaslav, will join Lions Gate’s board. Emily Fine, an executive at Mr. Rachesky’s firm, will also join the board.

“This transaction aligns Lions Gate with two of the most visionary players in the global marketplace, and we’re delighted to add David and Mike’s experience and expertise to our board of directors,” Jon Feltheimer, Lions Gate’s chief executive, and Michael Burns, the company’s vice chairman, said in a statement. “We believe that this agreement creates tremendous strategic opportunities to grow our content initiatives around the world and positions us to generate significant incremental value for our shareholders.”

Lions Gate’s founder, Frank Giustra, will step down as a director.

Shares of Lions Gate were up more than 4 percent in early afternoon trading.