New York -- TV Guide Inc.'s recent agreement to sell
out to rival electronic-guide firm Gemstar International Group Ltd. hasn't stopped TV
Guide's own dealmaking.
The magazine publisher, which also owns analog cable outlet
TV Guide Channel, recently cut a deal to buy Pennsylvania-based guide-publishing company
TV Host Inc., sources reported last week.
TV Host published several cable-channel guides, including TV
Entertainer, TV Host and Preview.
A TV Guide spokesman would only say that current TV Host
subscribers would get TV Guide's Ultimate Cable guide once the deal is
completed.
Representatives from TV Host would not comment, nor reveal
subscriber figures. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Earlier this year, Gemstar acquired TV Host's
electronic online and Web-based programming-guide service.
And TV Guide bought TVSM Inc. -- which published such
rivals as Cable Guide and Total TV -- for $75 million around the time when
TV Guide agreed to merge with United Video Satellite Group Inc. in mid-1998.
