Rumors are swirling over which media station will land the first post-jail Paris Hilton interview. AP library photo | June 2007

"We don't pay for interviews and we'll never pay for interviews, and I have no interview to confirm," NBC News spokeswoman Allison Gollust said Thursday night.

She did acknowledge the "common practice" of licensing pictures and video, but "I've never seen a deal like that for this kind of money."

The accusation arose from the ranks of ABC News, as first reported Thursday by the New York Post.

ABC had agreed to potentially pay up to $100,000 to the Hilton family for the interview as well as access to videos of Hilton and other material, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. But ABC was outflanked by an "astronomical" offer from NBC, the person said, citing information gained from the Hilton family.

Thursday night, Paris Hilton spokesman Elliot Mintz said, "I can't comment because I really and truly don't know."

He indicated he wouldn't necessarily be told if negotiations were ongoing.

The interview would apparently be targeted for NBC News' "Today" show, which has a fierce rivalry for high-profile "gets" with its ratings runner-up, ABC News' "Good Morning America."

Although network news divisions officially don't pay for interviews, the ban can be sidestepped in various ways, including shifting the negotiations to a network's entertainment division, which observes no such prohibitions.