Gore TV Deal Is Stalled at the 11th Hour; Major Investor Pulls Out

[kskiska]

The Observer has learned that the deal for former Vice President Al Gore and his business partner Joel Hyatt to acquire digital-cable channel Newsworld International (NWI) has hit a major obstacle and may have fallen through in the 11th hour of negotiations.

Sources familiar with the situation said that one of Mr. Gore's crucial investors got cold feet in the last stage of the deal and that Mr. Gore's group and the channel's owner, Vivendi Universal Entertainment, could not agree on a price.

Mr. Gore's group was said to be paying around $70 million for Newsworld.

Reached for comment, and asked if the deal had died, Mr. Hyatt initially said, "No," but then added, "No comment. It's always been no comment. We never talked about this deal, never. When we're at liberty to talk, I very much look forward do doing so."

A spokeswoman for Vivendi Universal said, "Things are still in flux, but it hasn't been officially declared over."

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http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage5a.asp

[mzmolly]

1. Ahhh shit!

:(

[Dr Fate]

2. Does Al know George Soros?

???

[Steven_S]

3. Hope it's a negotiating tactic..

Sometimes it's good to walk away from the table. It may bring the price down. We'll see.

[realdeal22k]

4. Why not get Soros or Hollywood to fund it?

They have more than enough cash to fund this tiny exercise in democracy. Why pinch pennys now?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. And they should buy up a shopping channel instead of NWI

:-)

[ochazuke]

6. The white house employee who called CNN about Letterman

probably called that investor and threatened his family.

Yeaaah, that's it. Gotta be.

[w4rma]

7. Ack! (nt)

[Merlin]

8. I'm sure it's Murdock's acquisition of DirectTV that''s the monkey wrench.

I believe that satellite is NWI's major outlet. If Murdoch makes it difficult for them to stay on the air, the whole $70 million purchase price becomes just about worthless.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. NWI has been on digital cable on both

Comcast in Portland and Time-Warner in Minneapolis.

[bicentennial_baby]

12. And Comcast Digital in MA too!

I love my NWI!

[Voltaire99]

13. NWI rocks - keep it the way it is

Hands off, Gore!

I'd much rather continue to see news from Britain, France, Canada, Germany and Japan than from the dumbed-down MTV product that Gore's group envisions.

[JCMach1]

10. I don't believe NWI was EVER on DirecTV

sorry

[Merlin]

15. I get it on my DirectTV. I love it.

I'm hoping Murdock won't pull it -- with or without Gore.

[gmoney]

11. Ate dinner with Joel Hyatt years ago...

He was a speaker at a Marketing Club meeting, and somehow I ended up at his table. Struck me as a very reasonable and thoughtful guy who was just considering running for office (old Howard Metzenbaum's seat)... I read that the story of "Philadelphia" may be based on someone who sued Hyatt for wrongful termination due to being ill with AIDS... hope that's not the case.

Everyone said that he made a ton of TV commercials, but I think it was really only ONE commercial that ran all the time... "Somewhere among these dusty lawbooks, a great idea was lost... the idea that law is for people." He was right about that. I keep that commercial alive at the office whenever somebody asks me for a file or something -- "Somewhere among these dusty lawbooks..."

[Andromeda]

14. If it's not completely dead then there's hope.

There's still time for things to turn around. This kind of thing happens in deals like this and I believe that it will ultimately work out for Mr. Gore.