Harcourt Mulls Bid for NBC, As Does Turner --- Disclosure of Time Warner Talks With GE Unit Spurs Interest of Others

A number of potential suitors are weighing bids for General Electric Co.'s National Broadcasting Co. unit following the recent disclosure that GE has had talks with Time Warner Inc. about a possible sale of part or all of NBC. Turner Broadcasting System Inc., the Atlanta-based cable television...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Wall Street journal. Eastern edition
Main Author By Johnnie L. Roberts and Elizabeth Jensen
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, N.Y Dow Jones & Company Inc 12.09.1994
EditionEastern edition
Subjects
Alliances
Equity stake
Stockholders
Television programming
Television stations
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Summary:A number of potential suitors are weighing bids for General Electric Co.'s National Broadcasting Co. unit following the recent disclosure that GE has had talks with Time Warner Inc. about a possible sale of part or all of NBC. Turner Broadcasting System Inc., the Atlanta-based cable television programmer, is also said to be exploring a bid for NBC, with Chairman Ted Turner possibly trying to muscle his way in to the Time Warner talks. Mr. Turner was close to a deal to buy NBC earlier this year, but was vetoed by Time Warner, which owns a 19.4% stake in Turner, people familiar with the talks say. Mr. Turner has also unsuccessfully attempted to strike agreements with CBS Inc. and Capital Cities/ABC Inc. over the past few years. None of the companies involved would comment, including GE. GE Chairman Jack Welch has approached the altar many times with potential suitors for NBC, only to back away; in addition to his talks with Mr. Turner, he came close to a deal to sell the network to Paramount Communications Inc. prior to Paramount's acquisition by Viacom Inc.
ISSN:0099-9660