NBC CEO Bob Wright said yesterday at the PaineWebber
Media Conference in New York that NBC will post profits this
year of $1.1-1.2B, up from $953M last year, according to
Collier & Battaglio of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. But Wright
said that there is a limit on how much the network will pay
to retain rights to the NFL's AFC package: "Everything has a
price." Later during the conference, CBS CFO Fred Reynolds
discussed the NFL TV talks: "While we're interested, I don't
see the incumbents giving that up" (HOLLY. REPORTER, 12/11).
TURNER IN CA: At the Western Cable Show in CA, TCI
President Leo Hindery said the "sun has set" on the growth
of the DBS industry "and that there will be no more big
entertainment deals such as the Disney/ABC and Time
Warner/Turner mergers," according to Scott Hettrick of the
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. But Time Warner Vice Chair Ted Turner
said, "There will be more big deals." Turner, noting the
restructuring at TCI this year: "It may turn out at some
point in the future that these big companies like Time
Warner and Disney are too big and unwieldy" (HOLLYWOOD
REPORTER, 12/11). Turner and his wife, Jane Fonda, were
interviewed on "PrimeTime Live" by ABC's Sam Donaldson.
Turner, on Rupert Murdoch: "He doesn't have much in the way
of principles. ... You can have a lot of stuff and not have
principles." Turner, after Donaldson noted that Murdoch
owns the Dodgers: "He doesn't have them yet. I mean, it's
got to be voted on by the owners" (ABC, 12/10).
