Word: qvc
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...ratings of any network, record profits of $109 million in the second quarter and a chance to play an even larger role in bringing two-way television to Americans. All that would begin to be his in just a few hours, when the boards of CBS and Diller's QVC home-shopping network would meet to approve a merger of the two companies...
...wait! There on the tarmac stood the rumpled figure of Ralph Roberts, 74, and his natty son Brian, 35, who controlled the Comcast cable-TV company and were partners with Diller in QVC. Known as straight-arrow businessmen in a rough-and-tumble industry, the Robertses hated the merger with CBS and arrived at the airport with a letter that contained shattering news for Diller: to bust up the deal that had electrified Wall Street when it was announced last month, Comcast was offering $2.2 billion, or $44 a share, for the 84% of QVC stock that...
...Robertses' bid not only reaffirmed Diller's status as a mogul manque, but it left CBS on the block for a takeover attempt by anyone from the Walt Disney Co. to cable-TV magnate Ted Turner. By agreeing last month to join forces with QVC, Tisch, 71, had shown himself willing to cash in half of his 20% stake in the network and to hand the titles of president and chief executive officer to Diller. Now, with the QVC deal gone aglimmering, CBS had what amounted to a COMPANY FOR SALE sign on its black granite headquarters in New York...
Tisch moved fast to limit the damage. Declaring that "the merger discussion is at an end," he immediately walked away from QVC. "There was no chance," Diller recalls. "We absolutely knew that if Comcast made a competitive offer that Mr. Tisch would be gone in 10 seconds." To keep CBS stock from collapsing over the failure of the deal, Tisch immediately launched a $1.1 billion offer to buy back 22.6% of the company's shares for $325 a share. At the same time, Tisch partly made up for the defection of eight major CBS affiliates to the Fox network...
...owner Ted Turner was reported to be once again eyeing CBS, after its failed merger with QVC. But government regulations would probably block Turner from purchasing the "Tiffany network," according to TIME's New York correspondent Massimo Calabresi. Federal laws prohibit one company from controlling both television stations and cable systems in the same market. Turner's cable connections? Time Warner Inc. and Tele-Communications, Inc. -- both of which own stock in his company...