The so-called "Dream Team" -- Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven
Spielberg and David Geffen -- formed a partnership with ABC/Cap
Cities to produce prime-time and syndicated TV shows. CNN's
Steve Young said the deal, reportedly $200M over seven years,
"sheds more light on ABC than the trio." Smith Barney Media
Analyst John Reidy: "The theory or rumor or myth that all the
networks were going to acquire a movie studio is pretty much --
at least in the case of Capital Cities/ABC -- put to rest by this
deal." CNN's Young noted the timing, with Paramount and Warner
Brothers launching their own networks in '95 ("Moneyline,"
11/28). ABC Television Network Group President David Westin said
he hoped the new studio will eventually produce all of ABC's
programming, while Cap Cities/ABC President Robert Iger said the
net considers the deal its "big bet" (John Carmody, WASHINGTON
POST, 11/29). The deal represents "a dramatic departure from the
traditional financial relationship" between studios and networks.
"The venture will be a 50/50 split between the two sides, both in
financing and in reaping the profits from syndication sales and
other sources" (Jane Hall, L.A. TIMES, 11/29). Wertheim Schroder
& Co. analyst David Londoner: "It is the first time, to my
knowledge, that a network has shared revenues with a production
entity" (Geraldine Fabrikant, N.Y. TIMES, 11/29). The deal is
seen as a "coup" for Iger, and "it goes a long way toward easing
concerns about his longer-term vision for ABC's future" (W.S.
JOURNAL, 11/29).
