Jerry Springer and Sally Jessy Raphael are about to become siblings of Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess.
Jerry Springer |
After more than a month of speculation, Gannett Co. Inc. Monday confirmed that it is selling essentially all of talk-show syndicator Multimedia Entertainment to MCA Inc.'s television group.
The sale includes Sally Jessy Raphael, the longest-running talk show in syndication, as well as Jerry Springer, Pat Bullard, international syndication of Donahue, and other international shows. Terms were not disclosed, but analysts think that MCA will pay between $50 million and $60 million.
In conjunction with the announcement, MCA said Ms. Raphael agreed to extend her deal ''into the next millennium,'' without furnishing further details. Her contract was due to expire in December 1998.
Sally Jessy Raphael, which began airing in 1982, appears in 147 markets covering 92 percent of the nation; Springer is in 113 markets with 82 percent coverage; and Bullard is in 126 markets with 82 percent coverage.
Jim McNamara, president of MCA Worldwide Television Distribution, said in a statement that the acquisition ''instantly makes MCA TV a powerhouse in the critical domestic strip syndication business."
MCA, which is 80 percent owned by Seagram Co., is based in Universal City, Calif. Among its best-known TV fare are the action-adventure series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.
''Their weakness has been on the day programming side,'' media analyst Steven Barlow of Smith Barney said. ''They clearly looked like a reasonable buyer when their name first surfaced."
As The Enquirer previously reported, rumors of the deal have circulated for weeks. The New York Post and Electronic Media last month both reported MCA had bid between $50 million and $75 million for the division.
Arlington, Va.-based Gannett acquired the talk-show strips as part of its $1.7 billion acquisition of Multimedia in 1995. But analysts anticipated a sale since Gannett has divested other non-core businesses like outdoor advertising.
Gannett previously sold two Multimedia radio stations as well as the subscriber base for Multimedia's NewsTalk Television. Just last week, Gannett said it was selling another part of the Multimedia buy: WLWT-TV in Cincinnati. That divestiture might have been prompted by federal regulators who objected to Gannett owning both a major TV station and the major newspaper (Cincinnati Enquirer) in the same market.
The MCA deal is subject to regulatory approval.
Published Nov. 26, 1996.
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