ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 25, 1996 TAG: 9606250074
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
News Corp. on Monday secured a spot for its new Fox 24-hour news channel on the nation's largest cable system, a move that will bring the network to 10 million subscribers when it's launched this fall.
The deal with Tele-Communications Inc. gives Fox a significant platform to compete head-to-head with all-news cable pioneer CNN, which has dominated the market and has had little competition since it began in 1980.
``TCI represents about 25 percent of the cable universe,'' said John Reidy, a media analyst for Smith Barney. ``This gets it [the Fox news channel] off to a good start.''
TCI will be the first major cable operator to carry the Fox network, which is jockeying with other all-news networks for the limited space available on cable systems.
Under the deal, Tele-Communications will carry the news channel on its cable systems in exchange for an option to buy up to 20 percent of the Fox news channel.
Initially, 10 million of TCI's 13 million subscribers nationwide will get the channel, and that will expand over the next two years to include about 90 percent of TCI's subscribers.
Other specifics of the deal were not disclosed, but TCI spokeswoman LaRae Marsik said initially TCI will receive an ``incentive payment'' for carrying the channel. |-Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB