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　Network executives aren’t talking, but informed sources said Wednesday that representatives of former President Bill Clinton are in discussions with CBS about developing a syndicated talk show to be hosted by the 56-year-old former commander-in-chief.

　Those negotiations began after similar talks with rival network NBC, owned by General Electric Co., stalled in July. The sources, including one close to Clinton, said that so far he is merely reviewing offers and keeping his options open.

　“He has not ever taken any one of these offers, and he has actually not turned any of them down,” a source in Clinton’s camp said. He added that all the talks so far have been initiated by the networks and “He continues to listen.”

　Under a proposal from CBS, a unit of Viacom Inc., a Clinton-hosted show would be carried daily on TV stations owned and operated by CBS and sold to the highest bidder in other markets by Viacom-owned syndication powerhouse King World Productions Inc., which also distributes Oprah Winfrey’s show.

　The New York Times reported Wednesday that Clinton has held separate talks with CBS and NBC about the possibility that he would host a talk show at a salary of US$30 million to US$50 million a year, which would be the highest ever earned by a freshman talk show host.

　The source close to Clinton characterized those figures as “ludicrous” and said none of the network overtures “involved money at all.” Clinton’s spokesman in New York could not immediately be reached for comment, but his Washington-based lawyer, Robert Barnett, said in a statement to the Times: “The president has received an enormous number of offers from broadcast television, cable television, the Internet, print, and radio. We have no immediate plans to make any media deals, and when the time comes a proper announcement will be forthcoming.”(SD-Agencies)