NBC Says Its Profit Will Increase Sharply

General Electric Co.’s NBC, owner of cable television channels Bravo and CNBC, forecast an increase in operating profit of 19% this year, aided by higher advertising sales at its NBC television network.

NBC will help raise profit to $1.9 billion from $1.6 billion last year, excluding income generated from the network’s broadcast of the Winter Olympic Games, NBC said.

Shares of Fairfield, Conn.-based GE rose 2 cents to $28.46 on the NYSE.

From Bloomberg News

* Four members of the Rigas family can use cash made by cable television companies they control to defend themselves against allegations that they built a personal fortune by looting Adelphia Communications Corp., a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ruled.

* Ted Turner, the largest individual shareholder of AOL Time Warner Inc., sold $46.8 million of shares this week, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. He also made a gift of an additional $20 million of shares. In May, Turner sold more than half his stake in AOL Time Warner in a transaction valued at about $789 million. He still holds about 41 million shares of the company.