Disney, Comcast Join to Acquire E!

Walt Disney Co. is joining with Comcast Corp. to acquire control of cable’s E! Entertainment Television, the celebrity news network behind “Talk Soup,” for $320 million, according to a report in Daily Variety.

The trade newspaper reported Monday that the deal could be announced this week.

Comcast, the nation’s fourth-largest cable operator, disclosed on Jan. 10 it had won the right to buy Time Warner’s controlling stake in E! for about $320 million.

Terms of the Disney/Comcast deal, signed Thursday, call for Disney to put up most of the money for the buyout, Variety said, but Comcast and its programming arm, C3, will control 51% of the companies’ interest in E!.