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Time Warner selling E!
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December 16, 1996: 8:16 p.m. ET
Media giant wants $225 million for 58-percent stake in cable TV network
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- CNNfn has learned that Time Warner Inc. is negotiating to sell its majority stake in E! Entertainment Television to the cable network's minority shareholders for as much as $225 million.
A source at the network said that Time Warner wants E!'s four minority shareholders -- Continental Cable, Comcast, Cox and TCI -- to pay at least $100 million for its stake in E!. Others in the cable television industry told CNNfn that Time Warner wants closer to $225 million.
A spokeswoman for E! declined to comment.
The sale would be an indication that the Time Warner, which is carrying $17 billion in debt, is seeking to lighten its indebtedness in the wake of its recent acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System.
The company source said that the ownership agreement among the five cable networks calls for a periodic review of the partnership, and that the four minority shareholders -- who each control 10.4 percent of the network -- had chosen to exercise an option which forced Time Warner to set a price on its stake.
The four minority cable companies now have 60 days to determine whether or not to accept the price, during which negotiations among all the parties will continue. The hope, said the company source, is that there will be an agreement before Christmas. The talks are said to be proceeding amicably.
The decision to restructure the ownership came about because of the rapid growth of the cable network has resented the opportunity for the partners to cash in -- or to cash out.
The E! Entertainment Television is home on such shows as Talk Soup, The Gossip Show, and currently, a daily update of the O.J. Simpson wrongful death trial which features reenactments of courtroom testimony.
Time Warner Inc. is the parent corporation of CNNfn. 
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