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Hilton to offer
pay-TV, Internet

The firm is buying a
LodgeNet stake and hopes to
have rooms equipped by year-end

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Bloomberg News

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Hilton Hotels Corp., owner of Doubletree and Hilton hotels, agreed to buy as much as $42.9 million in LodgeNet Entertainment Corp. stock to add pay-television and Internet service in its rooms.

Hilton said it got a warrant to purchase as many as 2.1 million LodgeNet common shares over the next seven years for $20.44 each. LodgeNet is the No. 2 U.S. provider of pay-TV in hotels. Hilton also owns Embassy Suites and Red Lion hotels. LodgeNet will start offering movies on demand, Internet service and Nintendo video games in Hilton rooms by the end of the year.

Hilton owns all or part of 220 hotels with about 70,000 rooms, and has another 1,600 managed and franchised properties with 250,000 rooms. In Hawaii, Hilton manages the Hilton Hawaiian Village and the Hilton Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu and the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island. It owns the Hawaiian Village, has a minority interest in the Waikoloa and manages the Turtle Bay for an investor group.