COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

QVC May Soon Clarify Its Strategy: Stung by press reports that it is losing its campaign to win Paramount Communications Inc., a QVC Network Inc. source said, the company will send a clear message to Paramount shareholders before the expiration of competing tender offers Feb. 14. According to some reports, QVC has been trying to persuade large Paramount investors not to tender their shares to rival Viacom Inc., by hinting that new support for its bid could materialize Feb. 15 without violating agreed-upon auction rules. The vagueness of the message has alternately intrigued and irritated Wall Street traders, prompting one QVC source to say, “Before the 15th, we will be quite clear.”