Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104040158
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Judge Francis G. Conrad of U.S. Bankruptcy Court accepted CNBC's cash bid at a three-hour hearing where he refused to consider a competing $115 million offer from a partnership of Dow Jones & Co. and Westinghouse Broadcasting Co.
The Dow Jones partnership set conditions on how long its bid would remain open and the judge found that unacceptable under the ground rules he set last month for the asset auction.
The judge, who normally presides in Vermont, compared the session he was running to an "old fashioned Vermont auction" where no one gets "to negotiate with the auctioneer."
Final approval of the CNBC deal, however, hinges on antitrust clearance.
The Federal Trade Commission is studying whether CNBC's stated plans to merge the CNBC and FNN services into a single network are legal. It expects to complete an investigation by April 19.
Dow Jones-Westinghouse executives were not ready to capitulate, saying they feel there are antitrust problems with the sale to CNBC. "It's far from over," said Peter Skinner, Dow Jones senior vice president. "We are still intent on acquiring FNN."
The judge was clearly eager to end the suspense over the fate of the business news network, whose parent, Financial News Network Inc., filed for bankruptcy court protection on March 1, listing liabilities that were nearly double its listed assets.
CNBC is operated by the cable division of the National Broadcasting Co. and has been frustrated by tight channel capacity on cable TV systems in expanding beyond its current base of 18 million subscribers.
by CNB