CABLE OPERATORS FACED WITH INCREASED FEES FOR TBS

          With "less than seven weeks to go" before TBS
     officially changes from superstation to basic cable station,
     the network is "locked into hammer-and-tong negotiations
     with cable operators as it tries to extract hefty license
     fees from them for the first time," according to John
     Dempsey of VARIETY.  The move to basic cable will allow TBS
     "to tap into a possible" $100M in new revenue from cable
     systems, while as a superstation, it was "only able to
     derive income" from the sale of ad time.  TBS has drawn up a
     five-year contract which would translate into a monthly fee
     of $0.25 a subscriber -- more than operators pay for the
     Family Channel or Lifetime, but less than they pay for TNT
     ($0.50) or USA Network (about $0.33).  Operators would "get
     a big chunk" of the fee back with two "barter minutes" an
     hour for local ad sales.  Dempsey adds that it is "unlikely"
     that small cable systems will drop TBS.  Although its
     ratings have "slipped" in recent months, TBS "is still one
     of the highest-rated in all of cable" (VARIETY, 11/17).