Larry Hot, Networks Not for Paris

It's an exclusive fit for a King.

After both NBC and ABC publicly turned down the opportunity to score the first postrelease interview with Paris Hilton, and CBS said it had no interest, Larry King announced today that the heiress' first emancipated sit-down will take place on his soundstage Wednesday night, a day after she gets out of Century Regional Correctional Facility.

"I am thrilled that Larry King has asked me to appear on his program to discuss my experience in jail," Hilton said in a statement. "Larry King is not only a world renown journalist but a true American icon. It will be an honor to do his show."

Hilton will be King's guest for the entire hour, bumping the previously scheduled Michael Moore. A CNN spokeswoman attempted to distance the cable news network from allegations of checkbook journalism that torpedoed NBC's bid, saying that King "does not pay for interviews or do ground rules."

The high-profile booking comes after the three broadcast network news divisions passed.

With Barbara Walters apparently in no mood to play second fiddle to Meredith Vieira, the ABC newswoman turned down the chance to be the first to interview the heiress upon her release from jail Tuesday, shortly after NBC told Hilton's reps it was no longer interested in the first sit-down with her, either.

The Hilton family was apparently trying to play ABC against NBC earlier in the week, telling the Alphabet network that its rival was willing to cough up between $750,000 and $1 million so that Today coanchor Vieira could be the first to land Hilton. News of the big-ticket Q&A rankled network executives, journalists and ethicists, despite Peacock executives describing the expense as a licensing fee for photos and videos, not a payout.

By the end of the day, NBC had put the kibosh on the entire project.

"We have let Hilton's reps know that we are no longer interested in pursuing an interview with her," NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust told E! News. "There was never an interview committed to, and there will not be" one.

NBC News insisted that it is not in the practice of paying for interviews (same as all respectable news outlets); however, broadcasters will sometimes pay licensing fees for video footage or have other divisions offer some sort of entertainment-related deal in exchange for a great get.

For instance, NBC agreed to pay a reported $2.5 million to broadcast a star-studded tribute concert to Princess Diana being held in England on July 1, and Today's Matt Lauer scored a prime-time interview with princes William and Harry, which aired Monday.

(Lauer said on Larry King Live recently that the Hilton project was "not the kind of story that gets me out of bed in the morning.")

Once NBC had divested itself of the Hilton interview, the Simple Life star and her family tried to jumpstart negotiations with Walters again, just a day after informing ABC News that they were going with NBC and Vieira because the Peacock network had made a more attractive offer.

ABC's entertainment heads were also said to have been in talks to compensate the Hiltons in some way, without actually paying them for an exclusive. The ABC figure was believed to be much lower, around $100,000.

Meanwhile, a Hilton family rep said Thursday in a statement that they had not requested any payment either for an interview or related material.

After scoring the first telephone conversation with Hilton two weeks ago, just days after the 26-year-old socialite was tearfully remanded back to custody after a brief stint under house arrest, Walters was reportedly actively pursuing the first après-jail interview

But this time, the veteran chat maven, who has a whole channel on Sirius Satellite Radio devoted to decades of her celebrity interviews, wasn't biting.

A source at ABC told the Los Angeles Times that Kathy Hilton called Walters at home just before midnight, New York time, to tell Walters that her daughter wanted to do the interview with her.

Then, about two hours later, Hilton herself reportedly called Walters, reiterating that she wanted ABC's point of View and expressing regret that the negotiations had been taken out of her hands.

Finally, when Walters got to work Friday morning, a message from Rick Hilton, Paris' dad, again expressed the family's desire to work with her.

But ABC News producer Rick Sloan told Rick Hilton later this morning that the network had decided to pass, leaving Hilton currently without a major network through which to spill the inside scoop on her time in jail.

CBS News, meanwhile, stated that it has "no interest" in the interview.

As for her conversation with King, Hilton will likely again hold forth how she has emerged from her experience a changed woman and that she no longer wants to be a pawn of the tabloids.

In an exclusive telephone chat with E! News' Ryan Seacrest Thursday, Hilton said that she was "frankly sick" of the media's depiction of her.

"I'm so much more grateful for everything that I have, even just to have a pillow at night or food or anything," she said. "My gratitude has gone up so much and I just realize that the media used me to make fun of and be mean about. I'm frankly sick of it. I want to use my fame in a good way."