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Technology Stocks : THE NEW LIBERTY MEDIA GROUP (NYSE: LMG.A and LMG.B) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jill Collins who wrote (34)	4/7/1999 1:19:00 PM
From: bananawind	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 375

FOCUS-Liberty rearranges furniture in its media house By Andrew Hay NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) - Liberty Media Inc. , AT&T Corp's cable TV programming arm, on Tuesday unveiled deals with News Corp. and TCI Music Inc. aimed at rearranging the growing collection of cable and Internet assets in its media house. The move to swap content assets for a stake in News Corp. and shift digital investments into TCI Music Inc. allows Liberty to consolidate assets and let specialists manage them, industry analysts said. In a deal valued at over $2.1 billion News Corp., the world's fifth-largest media company, said late Monday it would pay Liberty $1.43 billion to take full control of their joint venture sports network to beef up its cable television business. Liberty Media said Tuesday it planned to shift its Internet assets into its TCI Music Inc. music audio-video unit, renaming the New York firm Liberty Digital and making it the primary vehicle for Liberty's investments in Internet and other interactive media businesses. Word of Liberty's plans sent shares of TCI Music soaring. Its class A common stock jumped $21.19, or 253 percent, to $29.56, while its preferred series A stock rose $64.38, or 261 percent, to $89. Shares of Liberty rose $3.13 to close at $59. "They're arranging the furniture and putting it where it belongs," Janco analyst Ted Henderson said. The stock deal with News Corp gives Liberty, headed by cable magnate John Malone, an 8 percent stake in News Corp., making it the second-largest stockholder in the sprawling media empire controlled by Rupert Murdoch. Liberty Media, acquired by AT&T when it purchased Tele-Communications Inc. for $48 billion earlier this year, owns around 86 percent of TCI Music and the proposed asset transfer would increase its stake to around 94 percent. TCI Music delivers music video and audio via satellite, television and the Internet. Independent analyst Salvatore Muoio said Liberty has successfully managed a portfolio of telecommunications and media assets and now expects TCI Music to do the same with Internet investments. "TCI will be a holding company for investments in the Internet space," Muoio said. Liberty Media, one of the United States' largest providers of programming to cable TV systems, has a stake in more than 100 channels as well as in Time Warner Inc. and USA Networks Inc. . Through the deal with News Corp, Liberty will sell its assets in the Fox/Liberty Network venture, in which both companies have a 50 percent stake. The venture operates Fox Sports Net, which reaches more than 62 million U.S. households, as well as FX, a cable entertainment channel reaching more than 39 million households. Liberty's proposed transfer of Internet comes as AT&T, the nation's largest long distance telephone company, tries to sort through and order the various assets it acquired through the TCI deal. The assets in the proposed exchange include equity investments in top internet companies, like Priceline.com Inc. , iVillage Inc. , Sportsline USA, and drugstore.com, as well as Liberty's rights to provide interactive video services to AT&T cable systems. Under Liberty's proposal, 128.76 million shares of TCI Music's series B common stock would be issued to Liberty in return for the Internet assets. The deal also includes an exchange of debt. American Depositary Receipts of News Corp closed at $33.94, up 13 cents on the New York Exchange.

To: Jill Collins who wrote (34)	4/8/1999 9:42:00 PM
From: Jill Collins	Respond to of 375

According to an article in the Denver Rocky Mountain News today Liberty Media has been ordered to sell its stake in Sprint PCS which is valued at $5 billion. Add another $5 billion to the coffers. Does anyone know who ordered this and why?

To: Jill Collins who wrote (34)	4/8/1999 9:50:00 PM
From: Jill Collins	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 375

IS LIBERTY EYEING ON COMMAND CORP.? There is speculation that Ascent Entertainment Group may be putting its 57% stake in On Command Corporation in play. On Command funnels pay-per-view movies to more than 1 million hotel rooms around the world. On Command's best growth prospects lie in delivering Internet-access, on-screen shopping, video game, out-of-market sports events and other digitally based services. These are areas that John Malone has been following for years. Peter Barton, a Malone protege who ran Liberty Media when it was a TCI unit, sits on Ascent's board. In addition, J.C. Sparkman, a long-time Malone lieutenant at TCI, is on On Command's board of directors.