CBS, Turner News Linkup Is Rumored : Media: High cost of operating foreign news bureaus may lead to joint operations for CNN and CBS.

CBS Inc. is close to an agreement on a news linkup with its former foe Ted Turner, the cable television magnate whose unwanted 1985 takeover bid forced the network into a painful restructuring, industry sources say.

The sources say CBS will likely announce this month that it will cooperate with Turner’s Cable News Network in foreign news coverage.

The cooperation pact would help struggling CBS, which has had a series of failures in its overseas news coverage. It would also save the network money in what is a notoriously expensive area for broadcasters.

Moving a correspondent to cover a story overseas can easily cost several thousand dollars a day, since it also means that a camera crew, producer and tape editor will be sent, along with hundreds of pounds of equipment.

CBS News spokesman Tom Goodman had no comment on a possible CNN deal and said no announcements were pending.

Steven Hayworth, director of public relations for CNN, confirmed published reports that talks have taken place with CBS.

“Discussions have taken place on a number of matters, including news matters, but I’ve got no comment on the proximity of an agreement or whether there is an agreement pending,” he said.

Exact details of the proposed linkup or any financial terms were not available.

Sources within CBS note that the network, consistently ranked No. 3 in both its morning and evening newscasts, has suffered setbacks recently in coverage in Panama, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and South Africa.

With television news coverage an increasing cash drain in a bottom-line sensitive industry, CBS has been cutting back its foreign operations.

In the last decade, CBS, whose reputation for quality once gave it the nickname the “Tiffany network,” has closed bureaus in Bonn, Paris, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Beirut, Cairo and Athens.

ABC News, now No. 1 in the evening news ratings, has close links with the news film service WTN, which supplies footage to broadcasters around the world, serving as a “wire service” for networks.

NBC has gone even further, taking a 38% stake in Visnews, another news film agency. NBC and Visnews now share some offices overseas.