Some arbitragers tried to hedge against that possibility by buying both Time and Paramount.

By the time Viacom bought Paramount in 1994, the smelter had long been sold.

It will earn the remaining $9.5 million balance if Viacom buys Paramount.

In 1993, entertainment conglomerate Viacom made a bought Paramount.

That means that any company buying Paramount would have less cash available to finance the purchase.

Viacom had agreed to buy Paramount two weeks ago in a deal now valued at $7.89 billion.

Several industry executives expressed doubts that Cablevision would try to buy Paramount.

A potential deal could yield as much as $1 billion that he could use to buy Paramount.

Mr. Diller has said publicly that he has long regretted not buying Paramount.

The agreement also states that if Viacom cannot complete its tender offer by Dec. 23, it is still required to buy Paramount.