DATE: Friday, October 17, 1997              TAG: 9710170633

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: NEW YORK                          LENGTH:   33 lines

WAVY-TV'S PARENT RECEIVES RICHER TAKEOVER OFFER

LIN Television Corp. is in talks with another suitor who is offering a richer buyout than a $1.7 billion agreement the company has with takeover firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc.

LIN shares jumped 9 percent Thursday after the company disclosed the higher bid.

LIN, which owns or operates 12 television stations, including WAVY-10 in Hampton Roads, would not disclose the value of the latest bid. The company said there is no guarantee it will accept the offer.

Deb Jacobsen, LIN's vice president and treasurer, would not disclose what type of company made the offer, citing a confidentiality agreement imposed by the bidder. Jacobsen said she expects the review to move quickly.

A Hicks spokesman said he had no comment.

The Hicks offer was worth $47.50 a share in cash. LIN shares rose $4.1875 to $50.75 Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Dallas-based Hicks agreed in August to purchase LIN, which was formed in 1994 as a spinoff of LIN Broadcasting Corp. AT&T Corp. owns about 45 percent of LIN Television, which is based in Providence, R.I.

LIN is the nation's 22nd-largest television group. It owns eight network-affiliated television stations and operates four additional stations in the same markets.

Other LIN television markets are Dallas and Austin, Texas; Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Ind.; New Haven-Hartford, Conn.; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Decatur, Ill.

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