Turner Poised to Buy New Line, Castle Rock : Entertainment: The entrepreneur, who has long sought to build a presence in Hollywood, may face opposition from his powerful board.

Cable entrepreneur Ted Turner has reached a tentative agreement to acquire Castle Rock Entertainment and is close to a deal with New Line Cinema Corp. for a combined price exceeding $400 million, sources said Wednesday.

Turner, who has long sought to build a presence in Hollywood, is expected to present his proposals to his powerful 15-member board Tuesday.

Approval is by no means certain. Time Warner Inc.--a pivotal Turner Broadcasting System Inc. shareholder--has taken a dim view of Turner’s talks with New Line in particular, because New Line is a rival distributor of its Warner Bros. subsidiary.

But one analyst predicted privately that in the end, Time Warner will join other directors in approving acquisition of the entertainment companies because “this is not big enough to precipitate a war. . . . This is not like spending $7 billion or $8 billion to buy Paramount.”

Turner played a winning hand by guaranteeing autonomy to New Line and Castle Rock.

Although Castle Rock is 44%-owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony is expected to eventually go along with the deal because it cannot give management the same freedom Turner has offered. As a sweetener, Castle Rock is expected to let Sony continue distributing its product for the next three years.

Sources said Castle Rock executives met with Sony officials Wednesday afternoon to discuss Turner’s offer but apparently did not arrive at a final agreement.

If the deals win board approval, Turner is expected to pay about $100 million in cash for Castle Rock. In addition, the founders are expected to negotiate lucrative new deals to stay with the company.

The New Line acquisition is expected to be completed in an exchange of stock, valued in excess of $300 million, with management also remaining intact.

Castle Rock was founded six years ago by veteran Hollywood executive Alan Horn, director Rob Reiner and creative executives Martin Shafer, Glenn Padnick and Andy Scheinman. With just 60 or so employees, it has earned enormous respect in Hollywood for its hit NBC series “Seinfeld,” as well as a string of box office hits such as “In the Line of Fire,” “A Few Good Men” and “City Slickers.”

Warner is said to be in favor of the deal with Castle Rock because it would be eager to put its films through the latter’s powerful distribution arm.

New Line, on the other hand, has made its name as a “niche” distributor releasing a combination of art films, horror movies and inexpensive comedies, including the Ninja Turtle films and “The Player.” Its most recent hit was “Menace II Society.”

Analysts and Hollywood insiders alike have asked privately how, if the deal does go through, New Line will fare with Turner, who has been a vocal proponent of family fare.