Paris is set to leave jail tomorrow, and NBC and ABC have lost the bet on the first interview. Instead, the rights go to CNN where she will sit down for Larry King Live on Wednesday night.

She and her representatives have been negotiating for the exclusive rights to the first interview for most of the past week. Both ABC and NBC were heavily involved in pursuing the interview, expecting it to attract high ratings.

But the negotiations turned sour late last week when news accounts described the interaction between the networks and representatives of the Hiltons, which involved potential cash payments for materials that the Hiltons would provide with the interview, like photographs and videos.

ABC had offered $100,000 for that deal but was told by the Hilton side that NBC was offering far more. On the print side, People magazine had made a deal to pay $300,000 for photos that would have accompanied an interview with Ms. Hilton.

In the wake of all the publicity about the financial negotiations, all deals were withdrawn. Mr. Sitrick issued a statement saying Ms. Hilton would not seek money for an interview. ABC and NBC still declined to put on the interview.

The more intriguing thing about this is that Larry King will not be the one conducting the interview. Who will be in the big chair? It will actually be TMZ’s Harvey Levin who will be the evening’s guest host. Even though a lot of us would love to see her locked up for a few more weeks, it’s going to be interesting to see if this bad apple stays rotten post-lock up!

[Source]