Nbc Buys Into Garden

NBC acquired a small stake in Madison Square Garden and its two sports teams, the New York Knicks and Rangers, as part of a deal that also gave it part ownership of several cable networks.

NBC exchanged its stakes in several networks owned by Rainbow Programming Holdings Inc. for a 25-percent share of Rainbow, which is owned by Cablevision Systems Corp.

The value of the deal wasn’t disclosed.

Rainbow owns American Movie Classics, Bravo, the Independent Film Channel and several SportsChannel regional networks.

Cablevision earlier in March announced it would gain full ownership of the Garden by purchasing ITT Corp.’s 50-percent stake for at least $650 million.

The deal will give NBC, which is owned by General Electric Co., a 12.5 percent stake in the Garden.