Westinghouse and Infinity Shareholders Approve Merger: Westinghouse...

Westinghouse and Infinity Shareholders Approve Merger: Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Infinity Broadcasting Corp. shareholders approved the radio broadcaster’s purchase by Westinghouse for about $3.73 billion in stock and $1 billion of Infinity debt.

The acquisition won the support of holders of 62% of Westinghouse’s shares outstanding, and 96% of the shares actually voted at a special meeting Tuesday.

“We think there is tremendous upside in the radio business,” said Michael Jordan, chairman and chief executive at Westinghouse.

The purchase would make Westinghouse the dominant radio chain in the country with about $1 billion in revenue from 79 stations, as well as the distributor of the Howard Stern and Don Imus radio shows. Jordan said the Infinity holders approved the transaction Tuesday morning. Infinity Chief Executive Mel Karmazin and other principal holders had agreed to vote their 51% stake in favor of the purchase. Infinity shares rose 75 cents to close at $31.875, and Westinghouse shares rose 25 cents to $18.625. The transaction still awaits approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

Canal Plus Buys Pay-TV Rights to All 20th Century Fox Films: Canal Plus, Europe’s largest pay-TV operator, said it signed a long-term agreement to buy the pay-TV rights to all films of 20th Century Fox Film Corp., a unit of Australia’s News Corp. No price was given for the transaction. Canal Plus and Fox News Corp. also agreed to develop channels “to be carried on each company’s respective platforms around the world,” Canal Plus said. The film-rights agreement “incorporates the acquisition of rights of all Fox films for encrypted pay television.” The films acquired will be aired on Canal Plus pay-TV channels in Europe, as well as on the company’s pay-per-view channel, and French “mini-pay-TV” channels Cine-Cinemas and Cine-Cinefil, Canal Plus said. The Fox film library includes such titles as “Independence Day,” “Braveheart” and “Broken Arrow.”