ATLANTA -- Turner Broadcasting System Inc. said Wednesday it has bought the 50 percent interest in the Hanna-Barbera animation library it did not already own for $255 million from Apollo Investment Fund L.P.
TBS and Apollo bought the library two years ago from Great American Entertainment Co. for about $262 million, including assumption of Hanna- Barbera's debt, with the understanding that TBS would eventually buy out Apollo's share.
'Both parties found that it was an opportune time to conclude the agreement,' said TBS spokeswoman Kitsie Bassett Riggall.
TBS used the Hanna-Barbera library, which includes the Flinstones, the Jetsons, Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound, to help launch its cartoon channel in October 1992.
TBS and Apollo formed HB Holding Co. in 1991 as a joint venture to buy Los Angeles-based Hanna-Barbera. TBS said Wednesday the rurchase of the remaining interest included a cash purchase of common stock and a senior note, as well as the repayment of other debtedness joint venture.
The announcement comes a week after TBS closed its deal to buy movie producer Castle Rock Entertainment. TBS is also expected to close another deal it made last summer to buy New Line Cinema Corp. for about $600 million.
TBS's investments in Hollywood have been seen as giving the company the potential to compete with major studios. They are also a way of boosting the library for the five TBS cable networks and diversifying while new technologies, such as interactive TV, take hold.
