THE MEDIA BUSINESS;News Corp. May Sell Stake In Children's Programming
Date: 09 July 1996
By Geraldine Fabrikant
Geraldine Fabrikant
The News Corporation is considering selling stock in its children's programming operations to the public, several people with knowledge of the discussions said yesterday. Such a sale could provide the company with money to start children's cable channels, should it choose to do so. The core of the children's programming business is called the Fox Children's Network, consisting of 19 hours of programs. Fox also has made several deals in the last two years to insure that it will have access to more children's shows in the future. Those deals include an agreement with Saban Entertainment Inc., a distributor of children's shows and the producer of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers."
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WORLD NEWS BRIEFS;Separatists in Kashmir Take Journalists Hostage
Date: 09 July 1996
Reuters
Separatist Muslim guerrillas in India's Kashmir region took 19 journalists captive, then freed them today after a 10-hour standoff in which four of them were threatened with death. The guerrillas had asked editors of local newspapers to come to negotiate, but they refused, local journalists said. The journalists were released after a local editor spoke to the group and members of a special unit of the Indian Army mediated.
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POLITICS: MAN IN THE NEWS;Sacred Cows Are His Favorite Prey: Richard Douglas Lamm
Date: 10 July 1996
By James Brooke
James Brooke
Blunt of speech and flinty of nature, Richard D. Lamm has long prided himself on displaying the hardness of his adopted Rocky Mountains. But as Colorado's former Governor moves onto the national stage, the 60-year-old candidate for the Reform Party's Presidential nomination will have to parry criticism that his hardness is harshness.
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BATTLE AT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION: THE CHALLENGER -- Man in the News;A Knack for Compromise: William Colridge Thompson Jr.
Date: 09 July 1996
By Jacques Steinberg
Jacques Steinberg
William C. Thompson Jr. says he is adamantly opposed to giving Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani direct control over the city school system. He has firmly rejected the idea of relinquishing to the police the Schools Chancellor's ultimate responsibility for school security, as the Mayor demands. And he has forged ties on the Board of Education with some of Mr. Giuliani's harshest critics. But if, as expected, Mr. Thompson is elected president of the board this morning, it will be because Mr. Giuliani wanted him to get the job. And that fact underscores the challenge Mr. Thompson will face in replacing Carol A. Gresser, who feuded bitterly with the Mayor and was eventually pushed aside by him as a result.
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INTERNATIONAL BRIEFS;2 Reduce Stakes In British TV Operation
Date: 09 July 1996
Carlton Communications P.L.C. and Granada Group P.L.C. said yesterday that they had sold 12 percent of Independent Television News Ltd. to United News and Media P.L.C. for L12.3 million ($19.1 million) in cash. The sales reduce each company's stake to the 20 percent limit set by the British Government. Ownership is now 20 percent Carlton; 20 percent Granada; 20 percent Daily Mail and General Trust.; 18 percent Reuters Holdings; 17 percent United News, and 5 percent Scottish Television. (AFX News)
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SPORTS PEOPLE: OLYMPICS;Woman Accused of $1 Million Scam
Date: 10 July 1996
A woman accused of taking more than $1 million from reporters to house them during the Olympics was jailed on theft charges yesterday after they said she reneged on the deal. Meanwhile, dozens of reporters from at least seven news agencies are in a race to find rooms before the Summer Games start July 19.
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COMPANY NEWS;PROFFITT'S TO ACQUIRE PARISIAN STORES
Date: 09 July 1996
Reuters
Proffitt's Inc., which operates regional specialty department stores, signed an agreement yesterday to buy Parisian Inc., which has 38 stores in eight states, for about $110 million in cash and about 2.9 million shares of its common stock. The total equity value of the deal is about $221 million and Parisian has debt of about $243 million, Proffitt's said. For the year that ended on May 4, Parisian, which is based in Birmingham, Ala., had sales of $674.5 million. On a combined basis, the company would operate 141 department stores in 19 states with annualized revenue in excess of $2 billion. The deal was announced after Proffitt's stock closed at $34.50, up 37.5 cents, in Nasdaq trading.
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COMPANY NEWS;MOTOROLA SHARES CLIMB ON EARNINGS EXPECTATIONS
Date: 09 July 1996
Bloomberg Business News
Bloomberg News
The shares of Motorola Inc. rose yesterday on optimism that its earnings would exceed expectations because of stronger-than-expected sales of its lightweight cellular phone. Motorola shares rose $1.875, to $67.75, on trading of 6.5 million. In a report yesterday, Albert Lin, an analyst at Cowen & Company, projected that Motorola could earn as much as 85 cents a share in the second quarter. The maker of computer chips and electronic equipment based in Schaumburg, Ill., had been expected to report per-share earnings of 69 cents, according to the average estimate of 20 analysts surveyed by IBES International Inc.
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