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| Liberal Birth Control - Gore Butt Buddy Pulls Out |
| 2004-04-03 |
| Gore TV Deal Is Stalled At The 11th Hour; Major Investor Pulls Out by Joe Hagan The Observer has learned that the deal for former Vice President Al Gore and his business partner Joel Hyatt to acquire digital-cable channel Newsworld International (NWI) has hit a major obstacle and may have fallen through in the 11th hour of negotiations. Wonder what the hangup was? Sources familiar with the situation said that one of Mr. Gore’s crucial investors got cold feet in the last stage of the deal and that Mr. Gore’s group and the channel’s owner, Vivendi Universal Entertainment, could not agree on a price. Mr. Gore’s group was said to be paying around $70 million for Newsworld. My guess - Gore’s group lowballed them. Reached for comment, and asked if the deal had died, Mr. Hyatt initially said, "No," but then added, "No comment. It’s always been no comment. We never talked about this deal, never. When we’re at liberty to talk, I very much look forward do doing so." "I can say no more!" A spokeswoman for Vivendi Universal said, "Things are still in flux, but it hasn’t been officially declared over." The boat hasn’t reached bottom yet... Sources close to Mr. Gore told The Observer that the capital raised by Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt had come from dozens of investors, with a mix of individual, venture capital and investment banking money. It is not clear which investor pulled out of the deal. Um, the one with the most money? If the deal should fall apart completely, NWI would become part of the Universal Entertainment properties currently being sold to NBC, sources said. It’s not clear if NBC would be interested in a digital cable property, especially considering that it already owns news channels MSNBC and CNBC. And those two aren’t exactly cash cows. It could still be possible, in theory, for NBC to sell Newsworld to Mr. Gore ’s group once its own deal is cleared. Spokespersons for NBC could not be reached for comment. In theory. In practice, it’s a whole ’nother matter... NWI has carriage in about 20 million homes, and packages "foreign newscasts originally broadcast in countries such as Germany, Japan, Canada and the European community," according to its Web site. Mr. Gore’s group has had plans of transforming the channel into a 24-hour news, documentary and public-affairs channel geared toward kids in their 20’s. When MTV and liberal college professors just isn’t enough! The deal for Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt to buy Newsworld International has been nearly a year in the making. It was initially stalled in the fall of 2003 by Vivendi Universal’s sale of its cable assets to NBC. Later, Barry Diller, former Newsworld owner and chief executive of InterActive Corp., held up the deal while he Diller’s not stupid. He bailed out. So many words, so little information. |
| Posted by:Raj |
| #7 I'm guessing Hyatt's 'Cold Feet' when he checked on Air America's stellar debut numbers and its complete lack of audience participation! |
| Posted by: Jack Deth 2004-04-03 7:39:21 PM |
| #6 "...geared towards KIDS in their 20's" WTF!!!When I was in my 20's I sure didn't consider myself a kid.How about you? |
| Posted by: Stephen 2004-04-03 4:41:25 PM |
| #5 Sounds like Algore has grounds for a pointless lawsuit. Can he get a hearing in Florida on grounds that they didn't count all the money? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-03 3:24:53 PM |
| #4 Wonder if Soros decided it wouldn't give a very good return on investment. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-04-03 2:14:21 PM |
| #3 Wonder if Soros decided it wouldn't give a very good return on investment. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-04-03 2:14:02 PM |
| #2 Wonder what the hangup was? Maybe Joel finally had all of Al's ego he could stomach. |
| Posted by: GK 2004-04-03 1:17:06 PM |
| #1 so, once again he'll be a sore loser. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-03 1:14:59 PM |