Seagram Company Ltd’s Universal Studios Inc is to swap its TV operations with the Home Shopping Network Inc, in return for 45% of HSN’s stock. As a result the pair will form a new multimedia company, USA Networks, and each will have a 50% holding. The new company is to be a communications powerhouse with 25 Television channels, three cable television networks, a 49.6% stake in the electronic commerce firm Ticketmaster Group Inc, and the Internet Shopping Networks. The deal is subject to stockholder approval in early 1998, and Universal will not be allowed to extend its 45% stake in HSN for 4 years.
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