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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993                   TAG: 9307130074
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WEST CHESTER, PA.                                LENGTH: Medium

SHOPPING NETWORKS TO MERGE?

QVC Network Inc. on Monday proposed merging with Home Shopping Network Inc., a move that would expand QVC's role in the burgeoning televised shopping market.

Liberty Media Corp., the controlling shareholder of St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Home Shopping Network, supports the acquisition, QVC said in a statement.

Gerald Hogan, Home Shopping Network's president, released a separate statement that said completion of the merger rests on several conditions. They include negotiation of a mutually acceptable merger agreement, approval of both companies' board of directors, a detailed financial review of both companies and necessary regulatory approvals.

Hogan said the offer would be referred to his company's board of directors "as soon as possible."

Louise Cleary, spokeswoman for Home Shopping Network at the company's Clearwater, Fla. headquarters, said it is too soon to tell how the proposal might affect Home Shopping's warehouse and order-filling center at Salem. She said more details may be available after the HSN board studies the offer. QVC operates a similar facility in Suffolk.

HSN has 5,000 employees, about 350 of them working in Salem, she said.

The statements gave no indication of how the proposed merger would affect the two channels' programming.

The stock-for-stock transaction would provide for a tax-free exchange in which each outstanding share of QVC's stock would be exchanged for five shares of HSN's common stock, QVC said. The value of the transaction couldn't be immediately determined.

"We believe the combination of companies will result in a streamlined, cohesive operation that will provide consumers with greater diversification of product, advanced services and superior convenience," said QVC chairman and chief executive Barry Diller. "It will ultimately push forward the entire evolution of electronic retailing."

QVC's stock rose $2.50 a share to $67.75 on Monday. Home Shopping's stock led the New York Stock Exchange's most-active list, rising $1 to $13.625 a share.

Staff writer Mag Poff contributed to this story.

by CNB