Company Town

Television: Paramount Television Group is expected to announce today a deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb to create interactive programs that promote the drug company’s personal-care products and over-the-counter drugs. Paramount declined to comment on the agreement, the details of which were reported in the current Adweek. The trade publication said the program would involve computer on-line services and the World Wide Web, and also that Bristol-Myers may take an equity stake in Paramount’s TV production unit. It also said Paramount is holding talks with other advertisers about interactive sponsorship deals. The new unit is expected to be called Paramount Digital Entertainment. Paramount’s television operation has been active in forming programming deals with advertisers in a way reminiscent of the 1950s, when programs were closely linked with sponsors such as Geritol or Texaco. Earlier this year, the company formed a television agreement with Procter & Gamble. Paramount is part of entertainment conglomerate Viacom Inc. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s products include the painkillers Excedrin and Bufferin, personal-care products by Clairol and household products such as Drano.

* Music: K-tel International Inc., known for its TV marketing of music collections, said Monday that it has agreed to sell its consumer entertainment business for $25 million to a group led by the company’s chief executive, Mickey Elfenbein. K-tel, of Plymouth, Minn., said the deal involves the sale of three domestic music units and 10 foreign units. The company will keep and continue its consumer products business, which is operated through two domestic units.