Word: cbs
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...count, American Almanac is NBC's eleventh try at a newsmagazine since First Tuesday made its debut in 1969. NBC Chairman Grant Tinker has promised that he will give American Almanac enough time to find its viewers, a strategy wisely used by CBS for one of its news shows. That program spent its early years in the ratings cellar. At one point, the show was preempted to make room for football games. Only in 1975, seven years after its debut, did perseverance (and a regular Sunday time slot) pay off and the program begin to blossom in the ratings...
...America's Cup, he had a knack for snatching victory from sure defeat. In the equally competitive and treacherous world of business, the cable-TV king showed his spunk and resilience once again last week. Just as Turner admitted that his quixotic attempt to take over CBS had capsized, he announced two bold new ventures for the burgeoning Turner Broadcasting System (TBS). The Atlanta-based company (1984 revenues: $282 million) will buy the venerable MGM/UA company for $1.5 billion and become a partner with the Soviet Union in staging and televising an international sports extravaganza called the Goodwill Games...
...Unlike CBS, which fought off Turner, financially strapped MGM/UA welcomed his offer, which amounted to $29 a share for the diversified entertainment firm. As a condition of the sale, TBS will immediately recoup about a third of the purchase price by spinning off United Artists for $470 million and selling it back for $9 a share to Financier Kirk Kerkorian, who owns 50.1% of MGM/UA's stock. The slimmed-down United Artists will have few assets other than its film library. In contrast, MGM will retain its extensive film and TV production and distribution operations, including the 24 sound stages...
...CBS was uneasy about Turner's apparent moralistic streak. In 1982, in his only editorial for CNN, he called upon viewers to write to their Congressmen to protest the sex and violence in Hollywood films. Studio executives are now speculating about the entrepreneur's designs on MGM productions. Joked an MGM/UA executive last week: "Does Turner want to make movies? He did his Rhett Butler imitation when he was in here Monday." Turner, whose favorite movie is Gone With the Wind, named his son Rhett, 19, for the Clark Gable character in that film...
...that is offered, The Facts, tells young people, "It's okay to say 'no,' " but that if they do have sex, then the pill and condom are the safest birth control methods. Network officials steer away from the topic of contraceptives, even in paid advertisements. Says George Schweitzer, a CBS vice president: "The proper forum for the discussion is in news and public affairs programs where there is a balanced format to present both sides...