DATE: Wednesday, May 21, 1997               TAG: 9705210537

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   56 lines

ROBERTSON PLEDGES "EQUIVALENT TRATMENT" FOR IFE SHAREHOLDERS

International Family Entertainment Inc. shareholders applauded Tuesday when Chairman Pat Robertson vowed that all shareholders would receive ``equivalent treatment'' as IFE negotiates with other companies.

Robertson, speaking at IFE's annual meeting at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott, said last week's reports that IFE may be negotiating to merge with another company were nothing new. The company has for years been the subject of such speculation.

``Though it is the company's longstanding policy not to comment on rumor or speculation,'' Robertson said, ``let me say the board members of IFE are fully aware of them.

``Both the company and its board of directors are fully aware of and committed to their responsibilities to all stockholders of IFE,'' said Robertson.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Robertson and son Tim, who together own or control 100 percent of IFE's Class A shares, were negotiating to sell the company to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. The Robertsons were asking $40 a share for their Class A shares and $26 to $28 a share for IFE's more widely held Class B shares, the newspaper said.

That report stirred mutual fund managers, who in some cases own hundreds of thousands of Class B shares. Mario J. Gabelli, whose New York mutual funds own about 23 percent of IFE's Class B shares, had announced he would protest by not voting those shares.

Tim Robertson, IFE's president and CEO, noted Tuesday that Gabelli changed his mind and voted for the company's proposed slate of board members.

One shareholder asked whether The Family Channel planned any significant programming changes. Tim Robertson said no, other than moving his father's ``The 700 Club'' from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.

That move became necessary because advertising buyers use 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. to measure the prime-time audience, rather than 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. that The Family Channel had considered prime time. Tim Robertson said with ``The 700 Club'' in prime time, The Family Channel could have dropped from the ``top 10, which may cause us to be dropped from several buys.''

``This was not some sort of sign that we're about to make a deal for the company,'' Tim Robertson said.

Other than limited discussion of last week's news reports, IFE's meeting featured a series of video clips of past and future features of The Family Channel, the company's flagship network. The clips featured surround sound that shook the ballroom.

Tim Robertson introduced the clips, one of which was a biography on Mother Teresa that is still in development. Feature films like that should help The Family Channel compete with A&E's popular biography series, he said.

Another new series will feature ``families that made America great,'' Robertson said in introducing a video on the Eisenhowers, Kennedys and Roosevelts, among others. It drew a comment from Pat Robertson, who leaned over and whispered to his son afterwards.

``I was just asked by our chairman why we don't have more Republicans in that,'' Tim Robertson said.

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