- Title: UNITED STATES: DISNEY TAKES OVER CAPITAL CITIES/ABC AS WESTINGHOUSE BIDS FOR CBS
- Date: 31st July 1995
- Summary: NEW YORK, USA (FILE)(RTV LIBRARY - ACCESS ALL) PETER JENNINGS WALKING DOWN CORRIDOR INTO NEWSROOM
- Embargoed: 15th August 1995 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK/ PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES/FILE
- City:
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment,Industry
- Reuters ID: LVA67ZK7QTPNOKY50N3Z9F6T424Z
- Story Text: The profit power of entertainment will spur even more corporate mergers and alliances after two days that saw two multi-billion dollar deals for major U.S. television networks, industry analysts said on Tuesday (August 1).
The Walt Disney Co. stunned Hollywood and Wall Street on Monday with a proposed 19 billion U.S. dollar takeover of Capital Cities/ABC Inc. Its the second biggest deal in corporate history and the largest ever in the media business.
On Tuesday, CBS Inc. agreed to merge with industrial giant Westinghouse Electric Corp., which owns a string of television and radio stations, in a 5.4 billion U.S. dollar transaction.
Speculation that General Electric Co.'s closely held NBC would be the next to find a partner circulated around Wall Street, as did rumours that CBS would attract another bid or an entertainment giant would try to swallow the merged Westinghouse-CBS.
Declining viewership and the growth of cable television weakened the U.S. networks in the past decade. They were dubbed the "dinosaurs" of the industry and their future was uncertain.
Now ABC (American Broadcasting Company), emerging as a new entertainment powerhouse with partner Disney, has changed all that.
One of the most frequently mentioned potential new players sniffing at CBS is Viacom Inc., whose cable channels will look the poorer in comparison with the mighty Disney/Capital Cities network.
Viacom is also rumoured to be looking at NBC.
Others that might be looking at a CBS bid are Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System Inc., QVC Inc.'s Barry Diller and DreamWorks SKG, owned by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, former Disney executiuve Jeffrey Katzenberg and music impresario David Geffen.
Rivals could include Viacom Inc., a newly refocused ITT Corp.
or Canada's Seagram Co. Ltd. which still has media aspirations and cash to spare despite its $5.7 billion purchase of Hollywood studio MCA Inc. in June. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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