Word: diller
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Scenes from the continuing come-uppance of Barry Diller: when his private jet landed near New York City at around 6 p.m. last Tuesday, the man who would be head of CBS had no idea that he was also coming down to earth from his latest flight of ambition. Ahead of him lay the prospect of suppers at the White House, chats with Dan Rather and interviews with world leaders. Not to mention the highest ratings of any network, record profits of $109 million in the second quarter and a chance to play an even larger role in bringing...
...after moving from broadcast TV to cable, Diller never quite answered one question posed by the ordinary viewers: Can you turn QVC's programming into something approaching mainstream entertainment? After two years -- about the time it took for Diller to start up Fox's first night of network programming -- QVC was still an electronic flea market, selling flashy bracelets one moment and beanbag chairs the next. Clearly, most of Diller's creative energies were directed elsewhere. "When Barry went to QVC," says a business colleague, "he saw this mainly as the platform to do a big, transforming acquisition...
...Diller is close to it, and that could create some rancor among QVC shareholders. As the business colleague notes, "They could say, 'Hey, you worked on this for a year and a half, and all you did was get me five bucks over what it was worth when you came in, and this half of what it was worth a year...
Whatever the obstacles, the CBS-QVC merger could be a quick, happy fix for two media barons under pressure. Diller gets to make a network grow into a giant of cable, broadcasting and only he knows what else (theatrical movies? video games? TV serials for home shoppers?). And CBS gets Diller. In essence, to secure an heir, Tisch bought a company. And a legacy. "Larry gets to walk out," says the TV-industry executive, "not as a failure, but as someone who took the company and turned it around. Now he's a winner: he's probably $400 million ahead...
...those with a taste for both melodrama and irony, it would be appealing if Tisch -- widely considered the duller of the two men -- were cunning enough to use Diller as bait for an even more robust suitor. Why, it would be the stuff of network television. Greed! Lust! Power! Infighting! Backbiting! The Barry and Larry Show, with a few mystery guest stars, could be CBS's hottest program this summer...