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Wall Street and Hollywood gossiped that RKO's real gold mine lay in its huge library of old films, and that the new owners could clean up in a hurry by selling the library to TV stations. The mere rumor of such a deal was enough to get theater owners up in arms last week. But actually, such a move would make little economic sense to RKO at present. In addition to its old films, RKO has a backlog of upwards of $35 million worth of unreleased pictures. If exhibitors boycotted the new films, as they threaten to do if RKO jells to TV, the studio could easily lose more than a TV deal might make. President Stolkin also soothed the exhibitors with word that RKO was planning no such sellout to TV at present. Said he: "RKO movies and television are not married, but engaged."
* The sale price: $7,345,940 for 29% control, or $7 a share for stock that was being traded at $4.75. Because of the premium they paid, the buyers were allowed to make a down payment of only $1,500,000, given 2½ years to pay off the rest.