Company Town

Real estate: Walt Disney Co. is considering making a bid with Chicago real estate investor Sam Zell for the bankrupt New York landmark Rockefeller Center, according to sources familiar with the situation. They said Burbank-based Disney and Zell are in talks with the owner of the property, Rockefeller Group Inc., and the company that holds the $1.3-billion mortgage on the property, Rockefeller Center Properties Inc. Rockefeller Group and Rockefeller Center Properties are two unrelated companies. The entertainment company, which this week announced plans to buy New York-based Capital Cities/ABC Inc. for $19 billion, could face competition from other bidders. Goldman, Sachs & Co.’s Whitehall Street Partnership, Leucadia National Corp. and a team made up of real estate developer Jerry Speyer and General Electric Co. also plan to make offers, the sources said. In July, Disney agreed to spend $34 million to renovate the 92-year-old New Amsterdam Theater in Times Square.

* Television: NBC, which saw its two major network rivals gobbled up this week in proposed multibillion-dollar deals, said it is acquiring Outlet Communications Inc., which owns three television stations in top 50 markets. NBC, which is owned by General Electric Co., is acquiring Outlet for about $397 million after outbidding Renaissance Communications Corp. for the company, which owns NBC-affiliated stations in Providence, R.I., and Columbus, Ohio, and another station in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.