Yesterday’s US papers were full of stories that terrestrial bradcaster CBS Inc, operator of one of the Big Three US television networks, was about to announce a merger with home shopping cable service operator QVC Inc, but at 10 am New York time, CBS employees were still saying they had no official information from the company about the reports. The reports said that QVC chairman Barry Diller would be in the driving seat at the merged company, although CBS would be the acquirer, in a complex cash and shares deal valuing QVC at over $2,000m. Cable television operators Comcast Corp and Tele-Communications Inc would each hold just under 5% of the combined company.
