LIBERTY MEDIA NOW CONTROLS HOME SHOPPING

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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 13, 1993                   TAG: 9302130087
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
LIBERTY MEDIA NOW CONTROLS HOME SHOPPING
Liberty Media Corp. said Friday it had acquired a controlling interest in Home Shopping Network Inc. and proposed a stock-swap merger with the cable television concern.
The move fueled speculation that the merged Liberty-Home Shopping company would in turn merge with QVC Network Inc., the other major TV shopping concern. Liberty already owns a big stake in QVC as well. QVC's stock rose $2.87 to $41.37 Friday in heavy over-the-counter trading.
Merged, the West Chester, Pa.-based QVC and the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Home Shopping Network would dominate the TV shopping industry. Their combined revenues would top $2 billion a year.
Both companies have major facilities in Virginia. Home Shopping employs about 450 at a distribution center in Salem. QVC employs about 1,200 at a telephone order-taking center in Chesapeake and a distribution center in Suffolk.
Liberty, a Cheyenne, Wyo.-based spinoff of the nation's largest cable television operator, Tele-Communications Inc., had hoped to take control of Home Shopping in December. But the deal was delayed by a Justice Department review of the antitrust implications of Liberty's owning or controlling both Home Shopping and QVC.
Liberty said Friday, however, that it had received the "necessary regulatory consents" to complete the deal. It swapped $58 million in cash and 4 million shares of its class A common stock in exchange for 20 million class B common shares of Home Shopping Network. That gave it a controlling interest in the company.
As part of the deal, Home Shopping Chairman Roy Speer will retain that title and a place on the board of directors. But five other Home Shopping board members resigned in connection with the deal and were replaced by four Liberty officers, including company chairman John C. Malone.
Under the merger proposal, Home Shopping Network shareholders other than Liberty would receive cash and securities valued at $9 per share - $5 in cash, $1 of Liberty class A common stock and $3 of a new company.
As of Jan. 31, Home Shopping had outstanding 64.2 million class A common shares and 24.2 million Class B common shares.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB