Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 16, 1993 TAG: 9306160048
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Rumored to be worth about $300 million, Cosby is among several parties reported since last fall to have his eye on the third-place, money-losing network.
"Yes, he had an interest in NBC at that time," Cosby agent Norman Brokaw said Monday. "Ever since, we've heard repeatedly from the top brokerage houses, here and abroad. When they call, we listen.
"But at this particular time there is no deal," he said, "and I don't see any being imminent."
Brokaw added that Cosby has not met to discuss a purchase with NBC President Bob Wright or with Jack Welch, chairman of parent General Electric.
Brokaw was responding to a story in The Wall Street Journal Monday reporting Cosby's "second run at buying NBC."
The article, citing unidentified industry sources, said Cosby has been working with investment banker Goldman, Sachs & Co. in this renewed effort.
A Goldman, Sachs spokesman declined to comment.
"The network is just not for sale," said NBC spokeswoman Judy Smith, echoing Welch's pronouncement two months ago.
"GE likes NBC," Welch told a gathering of NBC News personnel in April.
Cosby, who led NBC to ratings dominance in the 1980s with "The Cosby Show," will reunite with the network to star in four two-hour movies next season.
These specials are expected to become a weekly one-hour NBC mystery series in the fall of 1994.
The new series would be Cosby's sixth in prime time. His first was NBC's "I Spy," a comedy-drama mystery series in which he co-starred with Robert Culp in the 1960s.
This season, Cosby flopped with his syndicated revival of the "You Bet Your Life" game show.
Its audience was less than half that forecast by its producers, and in December, Cosby announced that the weekday show wouldn't be back next season.
by CNB