Post by Fangorn on Jun 9, 2004 22:23:45 GMT -6
DATELINE: June 9, 2004
NBC, which just snapped up Universal Studios,
is eying the fabled studio - raising a new hurdle for MGM-suitor Sony.
"We'll do what we can to take a look at it,"
NBC Universal chairman Bob Wright told CNBC yesterday.
Sony has been looking over MGM's books for several weeks
and is said to be far along in striking a $5 billion deal.
But Sony's exclusive right to talk to the studio ran out on May 27
and it has not been renewed, sources said.
In addition to NBC, Warner Bros.-parent Time Warner also contacted MGM recently,
sources said. The media empire might launch a bid in partnership with private equity firm KKR.
An MGM deal would help Time Warner - which backed the hugely successful "Lord of the Rings" trilogy
- make a movie based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," said Robert Routh, analyst at Natexis Bleichroder.
MGM holds international film rights to the classic.
MGM, controlled by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, has been shopped around in vain for years. But its library of 4,000 titles is now considered tremendously valuable because its films can be licensed to cable companies for their video on demand services.
Phyllis Furman