So You Want To Start A New Network?

Talk about lousy timing. Chris-Craft Industries Inc. and Paramount Communications Inc. were about to disclose that they had lured the highest-ranking woman in broadcasting, former Fox Broadcasting Co. Chairman Lucie Salhany, to run their new TV network. But some bad news overtook the good a few days before the Sept. 15 announcement: Actress Genevieve Bujold abruptly quit her starring role as the captain on the network's marquee show, Star Trek: Voyager.

Bujold, who complained that she was unprepared for the rigors of a weekly series, was quickly replaced by actress Kate Mulgrew. But in Hollywood, where showbiz often obscures real business, TV executives were muttering darkly that the turmoil could destabilize the United Paramount network, which Chris-Craft and Paramount plan to start in January. Salhany, who has been hired in part to lure more affiliates, must rely on this latest installment of Star Trek as a major selling tool.