The Fox News Channel fired Paula Zahn, one of its prime-time talk show hosts, yesterday
after learning that she had received an offer from CNN.

The move is the latest escalation in an increasingly bitter fight for supremacy in cable television news.
Fox called the offer a "material breach" of its deal with Ms. Zahn.

Fox said that Ms. Zahn's contract extended until Feb. 28 and she was precluded from negotiating with
any other party until that contract ended.

The vice counsel for Fox News, Diann Brandi, said she would file a lawsuit immediately against
Ms. Zahn's agent, Richard Liebner of N. S. Bienstock. Ms. Brandi said the channel was
"also considering action against both CNN and Ms. Zahn."

Many of the people involved said they could not remember a network's firing a prominent on-the-air
personality over a contract negotiation, or suing an agent for inducing a breach of contract. The action
reflects the growing competition between Fox and CNN. Over the last year, Fox has cut significantly
into CNN's onetime dominance of cable news.

Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, said that among the contentions Fox intended to make are
that CNN improperly interfered by making an offer to Ms. Zahn while she was still under contract to
Fox and that Mr. Liebner "induced a breach of contract."

Mr. Liebner, the most prominent agent for journalists in the television industry, representing such stars
as Dan Rather of CBS and Diane Sawyer of ABC, declined to comment.
His company issued a statement saying that Mr. Liebner and Ms. Zahn "acted in the highest degree
of professionalism and integrity."

But Mr. Ailes said of Mr. Liebner: "He's a liar. Of course he acted unethically."

Walter S. Isaacson, the chairman of CNN, disputed the charges:
"We made an offer subject to her availability.
  She did not do anything unscrupulous about her existing obligations."

He also expressed delight that Fox's decision to fire her would make her available to CNN much sooner.
CNN intends to create a new morning news program around Ms. Zahn in the spring, with a new studio
in the Time & Life Building, Mr. Isaacson said.

"We're totally jazzed that Paula is out of her contract and is now available," Mr. Isaacson said.

Mr. Ailes said he could have removed Ms. Zahn from the air and kept her away from CNN until March,
but he decided not to. "You don't throw good money after bad, so why continue to pay her not to work?"
he said. "I don't pay for disloyalty. And I'm not worried about her going to CNN."

Ms. Zahn, once the co-anchor of the morning news show at CBS, was out of work when Fox hired her in 1999.
She has been host of the 10 p.m. talk show for Fox since March that year. Fox executives noted that her ratings
have been the lowest for any of the network's prime-time talk shows. But CNN countered with evidence that
her ratings have increased about 90 percent in the last year.

Mr. Ailes said: "I could have put a dead raccoon on the air this year and got a better rating than last year.
That's all just the growth of the network. All our shows are up."

In describing what had occurred, Mr. Ailes said he had been a victim of a "Pearl Harbor attack" by Mr. Liebner,
who had requested an early discussion of Ms. Zahn's contract, even though it had six months to run. Mr. Ailes
said Mr. Liebner then surprised him by saying a third party had made an offer for Ms. Zahn.

Mr. Ailes said he pointed out that no such offer was possible under Ms. Zahn's contract.

Another senior Fox executive said that Ms. Zahn had been making about $600,000 a year at Fox and that the
CNN offer was for $2.1 million a year. CNN executives said their offer was not that high.

The Fox News Channel has added hundreds of thousands of viewers in the last year.  Especially in prime time,
where Fox News has emulated the success of talk radio with hosts who take strong conservative positions,
Fox has frequently been beating CNN in ratings.

CNN has instituted a number of management changes, including bringing in Mr.  Isaacson, the former editor of Time.
Mr. Ailes has repeatedly accused CNN of  trying to copy Fox techniques.

CNN was in discussions with the conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh this  summer. And Mr. Ailes said
CNN had previously made an effort to lure away Fox's  leading prime-time host, Bill O'Reilly.
CNN denied that it had sought to hire Mr. O'Reilly.

"Their strategy is to come after us by throwing money at people," Mr. Ailes said.  "Now they're paying Paula
two million for a morning show before they even have a  co- host, a crew or a set. My view is that I've got
at least three other low-rated  shows on the weekend I can sell them."

Mr. Isaacson said: "This move is not about Fox. It's about Paula Zahn, who is a great talent and the perfect
person for a morning show on CNN."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/06/business/media/06TUBE.html