Polygram Filmed Entertainment

Seagram Co. said Wednesday that it will keep the international operations of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment after talks to sell the division to a Saudi Arabian prince broke down last week. Seagram's Universal Studios said it will integrate the PolyGram businesses, which it obtained through its $10.4-billion purchase of PolyGram. Stewart Till will continue to head the international film and video operations of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

USA Networks Inc., the media company headed by Barry Diller, agreed to buy some of Seagram Co.'s U.S. film assets in a deal valued by sources at $150 million. Diller has also pursued the purchase of cable channels that could make use of a film library, although sources said USA's recent $800-million offer for Bravo was rejected by Bravo's parent, Cablevision Systems Corp.

Rick Finkelstein has been named executive vice president of Polygram Filmed Entertainment, overseeing the company's business affairs and legal activities in the United States. He will report to Michael Kuhn, president of the company, a division of London-based Polygram. Finkelstein previously worked as a consultant to Polygram Filmed Entertainment, where he helped negotiate key financing and distribution agreements. MCA Records named Beth Halper and Kelley Walker A&R representatives.

After months of on-again, off-again negotiations, USA Networks has struck a deal in principle with Universal Studios to acquire its 51% stake in specialty film distributor October Films as well as the domestic assets of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, sources said. The transaction is said to be valued at between $100 million and $200 million. It includes the acquisition price and some distribution advances related to unreleased movies.

USA Networks Inc., the media company headed by Barry Diller, agreed to buy some of Seagram Co.'s U.S. film assets in a deal valued by sources at $150 million. Diller has also pursued the purchase of cable channels that could make use of a film library, although sources said USA's recent $800-million offer for Bravo was rejected by Bravo's parent, Cablevision Systems Corp.

Kirch Group, Germany's second-largest broadcaster, said it has acquired exclusive rights to broadcast films from PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to the German-speaking pay television market. The agreement for 10 years is the latest in a series of high-profile film and television rights acquisitions that gives the German company one of the best-stocked entertainment libraries in Europe.

Seagram Co. has ended discussions with a Saudi prince who had been considering buying some PolyGram film assets that Seagram had not already sold, sources close to the discussions said Thursday. The sources said that while Saudi Prince Muhammad Bin Bandur Abdul Aziz, a newcomer to Hollywood, appeared as of last week to be in advanced talks to acquire the properties, several issues prevented the deal from occurring.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Seagram Co. have revived talks over the sale of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment's movie library. Two weekends ago, MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian walked away from the bargaining table when negotiations for the 1,500-title library collapsed because the parties couldn't agree on a price and structure for the deal.

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, hoping to compete with Hollywood's major studios and better position itself in the global marketplace, on Friday launched a new U.S. movie distribution company and announced the executive team who will run it. The company plans to release five major motion pictures in its first year of operation, working up to 10 to 12 annually by 2000.

PolyGram on Wednesday agreed to buy a library of 1,051 film titles for $225 million, including such modern classics as "Platoon," "When Harry Met Sally" and "The Graduate." The collection was owned by French bank Credit Lyonnais. It amassed the titles through bailouts, bankruptcies, foreclosures and consensual transfers of several film companies over the last few years.

Universal Studios has made a multimillion-dollar settlement with director Ivan Reitman and former studio chief Tom Pollock--partners in Montecito Picture Co.--officially dissolving their 11-month-old company's production partnership with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. Neither Reitman nor Pollock would discuss terms of the settlement, but sources close to the deal said it will represent a $15-million to $20-million write-off for Universal.

Seagram Co. said Wednesday that it will keep the international operations of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment after talks to sell the division to a Saudi Arabian prince broke down last week. Seagram's Universal Studios said it will integrate the PolyGram businesses, which it obtained through its $10.4-billion purchase of PolyGram. Stewart Till will continue to head the international film and video operations of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

Seagram Co. has ended discussions with a Saudi prince who had been considering buying some PolyGram film assets that Seagram had not already sold, sources close to the discussions said Thursday. The sources said that while Saudi Prince Muhammad Bin Bandur Abdul Aziz, a newcomer to Hollywood, appeared as of last week to be in advanced talks to acquire the properties, several issues prevented the deal from occurring.

Seagram Co., which last week completed its $10-billion purchase of most of PolyGram, plans to sell as much as $1 billion of assets during the next two years as it tightens its focus on entertainment. The company didn't identify which assets it is targeting, though analysts expect it to sell pieces of PolyGram's film business and some of its beverage brands. Seagram also said it expects to report fiscal second-quarter profit of about 2 cents a share before a charge, unchanged from last year.

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment chief Michael Kuhn on Thursday became the first executive casualty in PolyGram's movie division stemming from Seagram Co.'s $10.4-billion takeover of the music and film giant. Sources said executives from Seagram's Universal Studios Inc. unit told Kuhn of their decision Wednesday on the eve of Thursday's formal takeover of PolyGram. Sources said Kuhn, who led music giant PolyGram's push into Hollywood, is so far the only executive to lose his job.

As Seagram Co. prepares to take control of music giant PolyGram on Thursday, Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. has some hard decisions to make about what to do with the movie production and distribution assets of the formerly Dutch-owned enterprise.

Billionaire John Kluge threw a wrench into PolyGram Filmed Entertainment's plans to buy the film and television library of ailing Samuel Goldwyn Co. with an 11th-hour, $115-million bid for the whole company. Goldwyn on Thursday confirmed its executives received a $5-a-share bid of cash or shares from Kluge's Metromedia International shortly after the company announced its PolyGram deal. The bid includes paying $42.

Capping weeks of negotiations, Kirk Kerkorian's Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has agreed to acquire most of the movie library of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment from Seagram Co. for $235 million in cash. With the addition to its existing catalog, MGM's library of 5,200 movies will represent more than half of the Hollywood studio films produced since 1948.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Seagram Co. have revived talks over the sale of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment's movie library. Two weekends ago, MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian walked away from the bargaining table when negotiations for the 1,500-title library collapsed because the parties couldn't agree on a price and structure for the deal.