MEDIA group Pearson gave strong indications yesterday that it could bid for the Simon & Schuster publishing business owned by US group Viacom.

In a brief statement Pearson said it ''confirms that it is considering the opportunities arising from Viacom Inc's planned disposal of some its publishing businesses''.

Analysts expect the disposals to raise between $4000m and $5000m for Viacom, which also owns music channel MTV and the Blockbuster Video chain.

An acquisition of Simon & Schuster's business would turn Pearson into one of the world's biggest educational publishers.

Analysts, however, fear any deal between Pearson and Viacom could face regulatory hurdles as the British company, through its Addison Wesley Longman unit, is a major player in the US educational market.

However, the deal would be bound to provide Pearson with the scope for cost-cutting and profit growth, backed by strong demand for textbooks in the US, analysts said.

''Certainly, it would be very good for Pearson to be so dominant in educational publishing,'' said Credit Lyonnais Securities analyst Nick Ward.

''The question mark is whether Pearson will be allowed to keep all of the educational publishing side. Given the position with Addison Wesley Longman, you would expect it to trigger some antitrust problems in the US,'' he added.