NBC Universal to buy Oxygen Media

NBC UNIVERSAL TO BUY OXYGEN MEDIA
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Paul Thomasch]
NBC Universal said on Tuesday it would buy Oxygen Media, the cable channel that caters to women and was co-founded by Oprah Winfrey, for $925 million in a bid to win a larger female audience and more closely link its TV and Internet businesses. NBC Universal will add Oxygen, a network available in more than 74 million homes, to a cable TV business that already includes Bravo, USA, Sci-Fi, CNBC and MSNBC. The deal is expected to close in November. NBC Universal, which is majority-owned by General Electric Co, also said Oxygen complemented the iVillage.com Internet community site for women that it bought for $600 million in 2006. NBC envisions Oxygen, along with the Bravo and iVillage properties, delivering a range of options to advertisers to reach the demographic of young women and affluent women.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=televisionNews&storyID=2007-10-09T183433Z_01_WEN1560_RTRIDST_0_TELEVISION-NBC-OXYGEN-DC.XML

* NBC to buy Oprah's Oxygen Media (Associated Press)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-071009oxygen,0,351708.story?track=rss

* NBC Universal to Buy Oxygen
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6488280.html?rssid=193

* Paul Allen Was Catalyst For Oxygen Media Deal
NBC Universal's acquisition of Oxygen Media, unveiled yesterday, ends Oxygen Chairman Geraldine Laybourne's seven-year effort to build the female-oriented cable channel into a major player. In the end, though, the decision to sell was triggered by one of Ms. Laybourne's biggest backers, billionaire playboy Paul Allen. Mr. Allen held less than 50% of Oxygen and, as part of a broader overhaul of his investment portfolio, triggered a right to sell his stake. In the past few years Vulcan Capital, Mr. Allen's investment company, has been liquidating some of its broad-ranging media portfolio accumulated between 1995 and 2001, including most of its stake in DreamWorks Animation SKG. Mr. Allen also recently signaled he was contemplating the possible sale of its controlling stake in the U.S.'s fourth-biggest cable operator, Charter Communications.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119194032337953433.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
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* Targeting Female Viewers, NBC to Buy Oxygen Media
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/09/AR2007100901971.html

* NBC adds a gal pal to its TV holdings
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-oxygen10oct10,1,4461430.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business