COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

QVC Takeover Hits Snag: The cash tender offer by cable TV operators Comcast Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc. for the home shopping network firm will likely be delayed until at least late October or early November, a source said, due to further antitrust scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission of TCI’s controlling stake in rival Home Shopping Network. As reported first by the Washington Post, federal regulators are considering a challenge to the proposed purchase of QVC because of TCI’s role. If TCI bows out, more bidders might surface. Sources said that in the earlier round, would-be rivals did not want to anger TCI because it controls more than a fifth of the nation’s subscribers and might drop QVC from its systems.