A Blockbuster of a Deal for Video Magnate : Merger: Entrepreneur Huizenga has pulled off a huge one. But can he handle taking a back seat to Viacom’s chairman?

With the $8.4-billion acquisition of his Blockbuster Entertainment video-rental chain by television and theater giant Viacom Inc.--and the possibility of a nearly $10-billion acquisition of Paramount Communications Inc. waiting in the wings--H. Wayne Huizenga has made the big deal Hollywood has been expecting of him for at least two years.

The unexpected plot twist: Huizenga is the seller, not the buyer.

The potential three-way merger could result in a company with a staggering market value of $26 billion, and revenue approaching $10 billion. The new company would generate about $1.4 billion a year in cash.

Combining Viacom, Blockbuster and Paramount would create an entertainment giant capable of producing, televising and distributing via videocassette thousands of entertainment programs, from such films as “The Firm” and the classic “High Noon” to such popular phenomena as “Beavis and Butt-head” and “Ren & Stimpy.”

Some Hollywood executives said they are uncomfortable with the deal and plan to have lawyers look at any potential antitrust issues should New York-based Paramount become part of a three-way merger. One scenario sketched by a major Hollywood lawyer would be for studios to seek some sort of federal consent decree assuring them that they will have equal access at Blockbuster stores.

But Blockbuster Vice Chairman Steven Berrard said that the deal shouldn’t cause anyone in Hollywood to worry. “I don’t think it should really matter. We need to buy everybody’s product,” he said.

Meanwhile, some analysts and executives expressed surprise that Huizenga would make the deal, taking what is one of entertainment’s hottest companies in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Blockbuster and folding it into New York-based Viacom, the entertainment concern behind such ventures as the MTV and Nickelodeon cable channels.

Moreover, several investors and analysts raised the question of whether Blockbuster, in agreeing to be acquired by Viacom, is now “in play,” meaning that other bidders are now free to try to top Viacom’s offer.

And they also ask whether a successful entrepreneur such as Huizenga, who will be vice chairman of the combined Viacom/Blockbuster, will soon get restless working under such a dominant executive as Viacom Chairman Sumner M. Redstone, who will have 61% voting control.

“It’s hard to imagine Wayne working for anybody. This has to be a partnership of some kind,” said one executive who works frequently with Huizenga.

One top studio executive noted that Redstone, 70, doesn’t share power easily, adding: “Sumner is always the boss everywhere. If you want this to happen, you take a back seat to Sumner Redstone.”

No specific succession plans have been put in place spelling out what Huizenga’s role would be upon Redstone’s retirement. One analyst suggested, however, that Huizenga may well have a verbal understanding that he will eventually run the company.

Huizenga, 56, was flying back to his home in Fort Lauderdale on Friday night and could not be reached. But his top deputy, Berrard, said that Redstone and Huizenga plan to work as a team.

“The chemistry between the two of them is what made this happen,” Berrard said.

Still others said they are not that surprised Huizenga would strike a deal, being at heart a businessman who happens to be in the entertainment field, unlike Redstone, whose heart is very much in the business. Eventually, Huizenga, whose net worth Forbes pegs at $670 million, can easily walk away if he is unhappy.

What’s more, they add, Huizenga is taking advantage of a unique moment to get a decent price for Blockbuster. Redstone needs Huizenga to complete his career-capping deal for Paramount. And Blockbuster’s video-rental business has yet to feel the impact of potential technological changes such as systems that will allow television viewers to electronically call up vast numbers of movies from home.

“He’s getting a price today that might not be there tomorrow,” a prominent entertainment lawyer said.

Potential management difficulties abound, as they usually do in big mergers. The deal would bring together two powerful executives in Redstone and Huizenga, said Warren Bennis, a professor of management at USC. (Paramount Chief Executive Martin S. Davis is similar in style, although the emerging consensus is that Davis would probably be the odd man out in a three-way merger.)

Before getting into the video-rental business, Huizenga built his fortune in garbage. Starting out with one truck, Huizenga would rise before dawn to collect garbage for his customers. He eventually built it into Waste Management Inc., the biggest trash hauler in the country, getting out of the business in the mid-1980s.

It was a chance 1987 visit to a fledging video chain called Blockbuster at the request of a friend that led him into the business. Huizenga--who admits that he rarely watches videos and whose favorite film is the classic “Sound of Music”--took a look at the numbers and smelled opportunity. Huizenga built the company into a firm so dominant that the revenue from its stores exceeds the revenue of its next 300 competitors combined.

Hollywood has long wondered when Huizenga would make a big move, looking at him to use Blockbuster’s ample supply of cash to make a major acquisition, even a studio. Instead, Huizenga has been building a series of small to mid-size deals, such as buying interests in Spelling Entertainment and Republic Pictures, buying the Music Plus chain of stores and acquiring the Florida Marlins baseball franchise and the Florida Panthers professional hockey franchise.

Profile: H. Wayne Huizenga

Background on the chairman of Blockbuster Entertainment Corp.:

* Age: 56

* Residence: Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

* Education: Attended Calvin College from 1957-58, but no degree according to Who’s Who in America for 1994.

* Career Highlights: Presently chairman of Blockbuster Entertainment Corp. and a member of the board of directors of Republic Pictures Corp. Became a director of the company in February, 1987. Has a majority interest in baseball’s Florida Marlins, a limited partnership interest in football’s Miami Dolphins and owns hockey’s Florida Panthers. Became a private investor between May, 1984, and February, 1987. Prior to 1984, Huizenga co-founded Waste Management Inc., a waste disposal and collection firm, where he served in various capacities including president, chief operating officer and a director.

* Family: Married; has four children.