Article: Clash of the titans, fifth-network style: Warner Bros., Paramount duke it out for affiliates for respective programming efforts. (Paramount Communications Inc.)

The deal-making and arm-twisting over the North American Free Trade Agreement may soon look like small potatoes compared with the competition between Paramount and Warner Bros. over affiliates for a fifth network.

That assessment comes from a group owner who has heard both pitches. "If only one-fourth of the stories are true, there is all kinds of wheeling and dealing going on. Trade-off is the polite word, but this is a battle of titans," said the source.

The biggest blow to date was landed two weeks ago when Paramount announced it had signed Renaissance Communications-owned WDZL(TV) Miami, which had previously said that it was going with Warner Bros.

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