E Entertainment Television Television Network

Comcast Corp. has won the right to buy Time Warner Inc.'s controlling stake in cable's E! Entertainment Television, the celebrity news network, for $321 million. Comcast, the nation's fourth-largest cable company, said it should decide by early next month whether to proceed. Philadelphia-based Comcast is one of five cable operators that are partners in the network. Late last year, they kicked off the process for a change in ownership. E!, which is 58.

What if they threw an awards show and nobody looked lousy? "That's our nightmare," said Melissa Rivers. She and mom Joan had been haunting and taunting red-carpet walkers for the E! Channel since 1996, but now they're working the rope line for the TV Guide Channel, starting Sunday at the Golden Globes. And as much as the Rivers women love the stars who get dolled up right -- Nicole Kidman, Debra Messing, Halle Berry come to mind -- they adore the ones who get it really wrong.

Joan and Melissa Rivers are all dressed up with nowhere to go. The mother-daughter duo, queens of the red carpet, apparently will be no-shows this fall at what has been one of their highest-rated performances: the Emmy Awards. The Rivers team shifted alliances this summer, leaving E! Entertainment Television for a lucrative contract with the TV Guide Channel, which raided its rival to propel its ratings. But E! has exclusive cable TV rights to broadcast live from the red carpet before the Sept.

Brandon Tartikoff to Produce Series for Cable Channel: The former NBC programming whiz and Paramount Pictures Chairman will produce a weekly half-hour series for cable TV network E! Entertainment Television. The series, titled "Q and E!," will feature celebrities in a "round-robin question-and-answer" format. The show will be produced by Tartikoff's Moving Target Productions, a company started last year to develop and produce TV shows and feature films.

Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp. are teaming up to pay $321 million to Time Warner Inc. for its majority stake in E Entertainment Television, the cable service that airs such programs as Howard Stern's talk show and "Talk Soup." The partners, which have both aggressively pursued cable start-ups and acquisitions, plan to beef up E's lineup of original programming and its prominence as a source for entertainment news.

Striving to calm internal strife at E! and improve the entertainment channel's relations within the Hollywood community, Comcast Corp. is expected to name television veteran Ted Harbert as the new head of E! Networks as early as today, according to sources close to the situation. Harbert, a television producer and former chairman and president of ABC Entertainment, would replace Mindy Herman. She was ousted as chief executive of E!

Comcast Corp. is in talks to buy Walt Disney Co.'s stake in E Entertainment Television Inc., giving it complete ownership of the cable network it manages, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. The talks are part of a larger discussion over what Comcast should pay for carrying ESPN and other Disney networks, the person added. A deal on E could take some time to reach or might not happen at all, the source said.

The president and chief executive of E! Networks, Mindy Herman, resigned Thursday in the wake of an investigation into complaints that she abused her power and created a climate of fear. Comcast Corp., the cable giant that controls E!, released a statement praising Herman's leadership and said she would remain on board to help with the transition to a new chief.

When last seen by America, Anna Nicole Smith was locked in a seven-year legal battle over her late husband's Texas oil fortune. The former Playboy Playmate, who has yet to collect a dime, has decided it's time to get back to work. So instead of seeing Smith in courtroom footage on the evening news, viewers can peep at her bizarre world when E! Entertainment Television debuts "The Anna Nicole Show" on Sunday at 10 p.m. The 13 episodes are an attempt by E!

For two decades, E! Entertainment Television has dished up tales of Hollywood glamour and celebrity gossip to millions of viewers. Beyond the red carpet, however, E! has struggled with its own image problem as employees complained vigorously to their guild about working under grueling conditions without health insurance benefits. Now E! is taking a big step to resolve the long-standing complaints from the people who produce such shows as "E! True Hollywood Story" and "The Daily 10."