New York -- United Video Satellite Group Inc.
officially became TV Guide Inc. last Tuesday, as UVSG completed its $2.5 billion
acquisition of the magazine and related assets from News Corp.
News Corp. and Liberty Media Group, the programming
subsidiary of Tele-Communications Inc., each own 44 percent equity and 49 percent voting
control of the publicly owned company (new stock symbol: TVGI).
News Corp. got 60 million UVSG shares and $800 million in
cash. Because UVSG's share price has risen since the deal was announced last June,
the deal value rose from the original $2 billion figure. As part of the deal financing, TV
Guide recently raised $400 million through the sale of high-yield bonds.
The analog The Prevue Channel has already been renamed TV
Guide Channel. Other Prevue products -- including the Prevue Interactive set-top program
guide and Prevue International -- will be renamed with the TV Guide moniker.
During a conference call to discuss the closing, UVSG
president Peter C. Boylan III said in reply to a question that TV Guide is attempting to
sign a 10-year exclusive affiliation deal for TV Guide Interactive with TCI. A TCI
spokeswoman said no such deal has been signed, so she would not comment.
Anthea Disney, chairman and CEO of News America Publishing
Group Inc., was named chairman and CEO of TV Guide. Gary S. Howard, the Liberty Media
executive vice president who was chairman and CEO of UVSG, remains as a director.
Boylan is executive vice president of TV Guide, as well as
chairman and CEO of TV Guide Entertainment Group and United Video Group, remaining in
Tulsa, Okla. TV Guide did not spell out what those units would include.
Also last week, Prevue Networks executive vice president
Pam McKissick was named president and chief operating officer of TV Guide Networks, which
is part of TV Guide Entertainment Group.
News America president Joe Kiener is president of TV Guide
and chairman and CEO of TV Guide Magazine Group, based in New York. He and Boylan report
to Disney.
