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Communications: Viacom Inc. received at least two bids Monday for the Madison Square Garden complex and its two professional sports teams: basketball’s New York Knicks and hockey’s New York Rangers. As expected, the bids were submitted by the Liberty Media arm of Tele-Communications Inc. and a joint venture formed by Cablevision Systems and ITT Corp. Despite early interest, Canadian brewer John Labatt Ltd. did not make an offer, and shoe manufacturer Nike Inc. said Friday that it had decided against bidding. None of the auction participants divulged terms of their proposals, and sources said more maneuvering is expected. Separately, Viacom reported second-quarter earnings of $221.7 million, reflecting 50.2% ownership of Paramount Communications Inc. In the second quarter of 1993--before its bid for Paramount--Viacom reported net earnings of $41.6 million. Second-quarter earnings from operations at Viacom’s MTV Networks rose 20% over the same period in 1993, but earnings from cable systems decreased 35% to $21.4 million, reflecting lower revenue and non-recurring costs associated with the implementation of FCC rate regulations. Viacom said Paramount Entertainment’s earnings from operations were $63 million on revenue of $1.2 billion in the second quarter ended June 30.

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