WEMI DEAL STILL HAS A SHOT

Time Warner President Richard Parsons and EMI top dog Eric Nicoli are spreading the word that the highly touted merger of their music operations is not dead in the water… yet.

Parsons said Wednesday that the would-be, could-be deal between WMG and EMI is still very much alive, even though it was withdrawn earlier this month after it became apparent that European regulators would not allow the deal to pass.

Meanwhile, Nicoli issued a video tape to EMI employees in which he reiterated that the deal will be modified and resubmitted.

After tough negotiations with European authorities, EMI and WMG abandoned their plan to create the world's largest music group. Some industry watchers said the move helped TW's merger with AOL get clearance from European regulators. That deal is still awaiting U.S. approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission.

"We still think intrinsically it's a solid deal, but we simply ran oput of time in Europe," said Parsons in a conference call following the release of TW's third-quarter results. "We are working with EMI now to see if we can restructure the deal that is good for both of us and regulators. We agreed to a period of exclusive negotiations until Jan.31, 2001."