Word: seagrams
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...rise of the Fox Network for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. a decade ago, was no longer a mogul-without-portfolio. Diller, who heads up the unglamorous HSN, whose holdings include the Home Shopping Network and a stake in Ticketmaster, struck a deal for nearly $4.1 billion with Seagram Co. that lays a foundation for his own entertainment empire. Diller, 55, will pay Seagram $1.2 billion in cash plus HSN stock for Seagram's USA and Sci-Fi cable channels and most of its Universal TV operations. Among them: the acclaimed cops-and-lawyers show Law and Order and schlock...
...enterprise, called USA Networks, puts Diller back in prime time with a long-sought chance to compete with the major broadcast networks. And it brings Seagram new outlets for its TV programming through HSN's 18 broadcast stations. It also enables Seagram CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. to team up with pal Diller, one of TV's shrewdest programmers...
...trial was unheard of, but Einhorn's attorney was soon-to-be U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, and bail was set at a staggeringly low $40,000--only $4,000 of it needed to walk free. It was paid by Barbara Bronfman, a Montreal socialite who had married into the Seagram distillery family and met Einhorn through a common interest in the paranormal. It was Einhorn's new rage, and his orbit of friends had expanded to include Uri Geller, the spoon-bending Israeli illusionist...
...newspaper report that Bill Gates is trying to buy the $14 billion network, the buzz continues. Although Westinghouse said the network is not for sale, impatient Westinghouse shareholders may be sick of the underperforming network. If CBS does go on sale, Gates may have some competition on his hands. Seagram, owner of Universal Studios, recently dumped a large chunk of Time Warner and has reportedly expressed interest in CBS. In a classic non denial-denial, Microsoft said that such a takeover might endanger its $200 million MSNBC network partnership NBC. Let's see: endanger a dollar to capture...
...Ovitz isn't being profligate, as is clear from a story that Seagram's scion Edgar Bronfman Jr. has told friends. Years ago, Ovitz, then an agent, called Bronfman to ask him to prevent the forced retirement of Ovitz's father, who worked for a Southern California liquor distributor affiliated with Seagram. Bronfman complied. In 1995 the two had a much publicized encounter when Bronfman nearly hired Ovitz to run Universal but balked at his extravagant compensation demands. They hadn't really talked since--until Bronfman called Ovitz recently to ask whether he could drop the elder Ovitz from...