
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991                   TAG: 9103210475
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

BIDDING WAR DEVELOPS FOR FNN

A bidding war is brewing for the business cable channel run by Financial News Network Inc., and a federal bankruptcy judge may have to settle it.

Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and its partner, the Group W Satellite Communications division of Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., raised their offer Wednesday for FNN's media assets.

The venture offered $115 million, topping the $105 million that FNN previously accepted from a rival business network, the Consumer News and Business Channel owned by General Electric Co.'s National Broadcasting Co.

The bid sets the stage for a hearing next month in Bankrupcty Court, where FNN has turned for help in sorting out its financial problems. FNN filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws March 1.

Judge Francis Conrad subsequently ruled that any competing bid for FNN's media assets would have to be at least $10 million more than CNBC had offered. He set dates of March 25 for new bids and April 3 for a hearing.

CNBC indicated it won't give up. "We fully intend to acquire FNN and are confident that the closing will take place promptly after court approval," CNBC said in a statement Wednesday.

FNN said it "intends to abide by the decision of the court."

FNN is available to about 35 million cable subscribers.

by CNB