5 Parties Said Interested in Learning Channel : Media: If completed, the deal could bring FNN up to $40 million. However, several rivals may make a bid for cash-strapped FNN itself.

Financial News Network Inc. and Infotechnology Inc. confirmed Tuesday that they have received several offers for their 51% stake in the Learning Channel Inc., a cable TV network. Analysts said the transaction could bring the company $30 million to $40 million in badly needed cash.

FNN and Infotech were said to have received bids last week from five interested buyers, including a partnership of Hearst Entertainment, Capital Cities/ABC Inc. and Viacom Inc., as well as a bid from the Discovery Channel. Hearst, Capital Cities/ABC and Viacom jointly own the Lifetime cable TV channel.

In addition, several media companies are believed to be considering making a bid for FNN itself, including Time Warner Inc., Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and Paramount Communications Corp. Turner made one previous attempt to take control of FNN in 1989, but the move was blocked by Turner’s board.

In an unusual twist, FNN and Infotech--Infotech owns 47% of publicly traded FNN and the companies have the same chairman--said Tuesday that a bid was not received from National Media Corp., a Philadelphia-based direct mail company that reportedly had made an offer for TLC.

Charles Diao, an investment banker with Prudential-Bache Securities in New York who is handling the bidding process, acknowledged that he had spoken with National Media and confirmed that no bid had been received. He declined to elaborate. National Media could not be reached for comment.

FNN and Infotech, however, seemed to be deflating estimates of the purchase price for their stake in the Rosslyn, Va.-based adult education channel. Analysts have estimated that such a sale could fetch $30 million to $40 million. But the companies said those figures were based on reports from “when the market values of media companies were significantly higher.”

The companies warned there can be “no assurances that such a transaction will occur.”

Richard MacDonald, a principal in MacDonald Grippo Reilly in New York, said: “These comments reflect management’s inability to maximize shareholder value.” He believes that it is more likely that FNN itself will be sold instead.

The 24-hour business news channel, which saw its fortunes soar along with the roaring 1980s stock market, has come under intense scrutiny by Wall Street since it disclosed that an accounting dispute could lead to a substantial non-cash charge against earnings. This would create a quarterly loss and put the company in jeopardy of defaulting on its bank loans.

Analysts who follow FNN said it might this week announce another shake-up of its senior management. Earlier this month, FNN fired its chief financial officer over allegedly misappropriating company funds and suspended two other finance department employees. And last week, FNN dismissed its finance staff in Los Angeles to move that department closer to senior executives in New York and Washington.

FNN first revealed on Oct. 1 that it was unable to complete its year-end financial statements because of a dispute with outside auditors on how to account for the start-up costs of a new business venture launched in July. Now, observers say, FNN’s nine-member board has moved to take day-to-day control of company.

One of the board members, Michael Wellesley-Wesley, a British investment banker, is overseeing much of the financial operations of the company formerly managed by the fired chief financial officer, C. Steven Bolen. Analysts also noted that Earl W. Brian, chief executive of FNN, is no longer speaking for the company or making public comment, as he was in the early days of the disclosure.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 1989, the latest for which information is available, the Learning Channel’s revenue rose 62% over the previous year to $9.1 million. But due mainly to higher programming costs, pretax operating income fell 13% to $211,702.

American Community Service Network, a nonprofit group that started the Learning Channel in 1980, holds 31.5% of the company, while 17.5% is owned by TLC management. Infotech acquired its stake in TLC in 1986 for $3 million.