Top executives of Microsoft Corp. and General Electric Co. have reportedly been meeting to discuss ways in which the two companies might distribute news or other material together.
One executive close to the discussions, who insisted on anonymity, said Sunday night that the companies might announce a partnership this week involving an all-news cable television channel.
At both companies, officials have declined to state what was discussed or even to confirm the meetings. A Microsoft spokeswoman, Pam Edstrom, said, “Microsoft talks to a lot of people, but beyond that, we’re not talking.”
Daily Variety, a trade newspaper of the entertainment business, reported Sunday that Microsoft was discussing buying a stake, possibly as large as 49 percent, in the NBC network, which GE owns. The paper said a 49 percent stake would cost Microsoft $4 billion or more.
But several officials with knowledge of the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity, refused to confirm the substance of that report. Two flatly denied it.
The chairman of GE, John F. Welch Jr., and NBC’s chairman, Robert C. Wright, are admirers of Microsoft’s chairman, William H. Gates, and have long sought a strategic partner that would give the network more influence, Daily Variety said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Microsoft was helping NBC set up a 24-hour cable news network linked to an on-line video service. Both NBC and the ABC network have said they are planning to start all-news cable channels to compete with Turner Broadcasting System’s Cable News Network.
In May, NBC and Microsoft agreed to work together to develop and sell multimedia products such as CD-ROMs and interactive television.
The companies at that time said they would integrate the multimedia efforts into traditional broadcast and cable television. Ultimately, they said, they hoped to develop products that combine online, CD-ROMs, interactive TV, cable TV and traditional broadcasting that continually moves consumers from one medium to another.
