Stars Owner Tom Hicks said yesterday that his $1.7B
purchase of LIN TV Corp. "does not portend any future
relationship" with the NHL team, according to Mike Heika of
the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. Hicks: "I'm no Ted Turner. ...
These two really have nothing to do with each other at all.
One is a personal investment [the Stars] and one is the
company's investment [Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst], so there's
no real tie at all." LIN is in its second year of producing
MLB Rangers games, and while the Stars have a TV deal with
Fox Sports Southwest and KDFI-TV for the next two seasons,
Hicks said it was possible that the Stars will have their
games produced by LIN, "as well as explore other ways to make
their broadcasts more profitable." Hicks did add that he was
"open to another sports purchase, but has no plans in place
to do so" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 8/14). Hicks' investment
in LIN is profiled in the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM and the
WALL STREET JOURNAL. In Ft. Worth, Mitchell Schnurman writes
that the LIN TV holdings "become part of a widely diverse
portfolio, whose common theme centers on growth potential
rather than particular industries" (STAR-TELEGRAM, 8/14).
