According to Faber, a "definitive agreement" is expected from the Dow Jones board tonight. You can click through here to see CNBC video of his report.

A print extract accompanying the video presently reads in part:

This morning's Wall Street Journal reported that as of late last night, Christopher Bancroft had still not agreed to suport the bid or to the fees deal. It was unclear whether Faber had knowledge that Mr. Bancroft had since been moved on the issue when the CNBC report came out this morning.

We'll be watching to see if this pans out.

The Dow Jones board is expected to meet tonight at 7 p.m.; the News Corp. board has a meeting at 4 p.m. at which board members will probably be told the result of the Bancroft family's internal negotiations.

So it's possible that a deal could be pretty much confirmed even earlier than Faber predicts, like this afternoon. But then, as one source told The Los Angeles Times, "I'd be very surprised if [The Bancrofts] acted any differently from how they have all along—confused and tardy."

The Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones Inc., missed a self-imposed deadline yesterday to line up enough votes to agree to sell the company to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

This morning The Wall Street Journal describes yesterday "as a tense day in which some family advisers and Dow Jones board members scrambled to line up enough votes to ensure the sale. A 5 p.m. deadline set by the family came and went amid apparent brinksmanship in both camps."

But they're still working on it.

Late last night, The Journal reports, the Dow Jones board was trying out a proposal that would, basically, cover all of the consulting fees the Bancrofts have accrued over the last several weeks deciding whether to sell to News Corp.:

The problem is that holdouts who have opposed the deal--for different reasons--are still holding out. Christopher Bancroft, who had been trying to find ways to keep Dow Jones in the family by buying out family members who were in favor of a deal, has largely argued against the sale on journalistic grounds. The Denver law firm of Holme Roberts & Owen appears to be holding out for more money, which Rupert Murdoch has said he would not consider.

Rupert Murdoch's been getting frustrated. He's said that he wants a deal soon, and also that he was unwilling to submit his bid to a vote before the full Dow Jones board until the Bancrofts, who control 64 percent of Dow Jones votes, can deliver him a majority. But he has not yet pulled his offer. 

So, what's next?

If a majority of the Bancrofts vouchsafe their support for a deal before a Dow Jones board meeting this evening, the headlines will be "News Corp. Buys Dow Jones." If not, and if News Corp. decides at 4 p.m. to pull the deal, the headlines will be "Rupert Murdoch Pulls Dow Jones Offer." If there is no definitive demonstration of support from the Bancrofts, but News Corp. does not pull its bid at 4 p.m., and if the offer then comes before the Dow Jones board for a vote, then we'll have some down-to-the-wire drama.

Or everyone could shirk their promises, have their bluffs called, blow their deadlines, etc. etc., and the deal could still be in suspended animation for the rest of the week.

Family advisors and Dow Jones board members tried convincing holdout family members to accept Rupert Murdoch’s $5 billion bid, according to the Wall Street Journal.

But, apparently, the votes just aren’t there yet. Christopher Bancroft, the most outspoken family member against the deal, was traveling from a meeting with Hemenway & Barnes in Boston back to Dallas, which pushed back a 5 p.m. meeting with the Dow Jones board's ad hoc committee

Earlier today, “a News Corp. spokesman to say yesterday that the company is ‘highly unlikely’ to proceed with its offer for Dow Jones if the proposal doesn't get more support from the Bancroft family.” Recent reports estimate that about 28%—out of the 64% that the family controls—currently supports the bid.

Tomorrow, News Corp.’s board of directors will meet to decide whether to go forward with a full shareholder vote. The amount of family support should greatly impact that decision.

The complicated structure for voting shares is making things difficult. Jane Cox McElree has resigned from some of the trusts for which she votes, worried that divisions among the beneficiaries of those trusts over whether to sell might make her liable to those who disagree with her vote. She has indicated she will vote against the bid.

There is also division in the law firm of Hemenway & Barnes, the Boston firm that advises the Bancroft family and in which Mr. Elefante is a partner. Other partners are arguing that the "supervoting" shares which belong largely to Bancrofts should get more money per share than other shares in the company. Since that could lead to litigation from shareholders who do not get the advantage, it has been suggested that the move is meant to shake more money out of the Murdoch bid altogether. Mr. Murdoch has said he will walk away from the deal rather than negotiate, if his initial offer is not accepted.

Jane Cox MacElree, whose daughter, Leslie Hill, brought Brad Greenspan and Ron Burkle's counterproposal before the board of directors of the company, is said to have stated her position during family meetings begun in Boston yesterday.

Her brother, William Cox Jr., has also been reported to oppose the sale, as has Christopher Bancroft. But the position of his two siblings, also voters, was unclear.

Elizabeth Steele and Michael Elefante spoke in favor of the deal in yesterday's meetings. But it has not been reported whether Ms. Steele's two sisters, also support a News Corp. deal.

Reports from the meeting also indicated that Ms. Hill has been able to keep the Greenspan offer on the table. Mr. Greenspan is the founder of MySpace, which was bought by News Corp. in July 2005. Mr. Greenspan has attempted to file suit against News Corp. for undervaluing the site during the purchase by billions of dollars, but the suit was dismissed by a judge.

But analysts largely dismissed the viability of the Greenspan deal yesterday, saying that it would require non-Bancroft shareholders to bail out the Bancroft family shareholders for an indefinite period of time.

“The family had a very productive meeting, and they now have all the information they need to make a good decision about the News Corp. offer,” said Mr. Elefante, who is also a member of the Dow Jones’s board of directors. “Thank you very much.”

And that was it.

Throughout the day, reporters had been camped out at the front and back entrances waiting for any statement—which had been promised earlier in the day by Mr. Elefante to Reuters.

Earlier in the evening, Christopher Bancroft, who has been looking for investors to help him buy out relatives who support a News Corp. deal, emerged, reportedly sporting a cap with the words "Bite Me" printed on it.

"We're still undecided," he told the throng. "Everyone has to decide for himself." He said he was leaving an hour early to get back to Texas.

Dow Jones chairman Peter McPherson was accosted by reporters shortly before Mr. Elefante’s appearance, but declined to comment, hopping in an elevator upstairs.

One participant at the meeting emerged later and said that the family had about a week to decide.

Mr. Elefante, before heading off to the Hilton’s restaurant, told reporters that the family would not be meeting tomorrow. Now, the ball’s officially in the Bancroft’s court.

There was acrimony: In the opening minutes of the meeting, while Dow Jones board chair M. Peter McPherson was making a presentation about the Murdoch bid to the board, Christopher Bancroft, who has been trying to find investors to help him buy out other Bancrofts who might be inclined to vote for the sale, interrupted to ask whether he should leave, since he was actively trying to scuttle the bid. The directors huddled and said, 'yes,' and he left, ultimately abstaining from the vote.

There was heartbreak: Elizabeth Steele, whose branch of the family was seen early on as likely to oppose a sale, gave a speech:

So when all 35 Bancrofts meet in the offices of their longtime legal representatives, the firm of Hemenway & Barnes in Boston, expect more of the same.

Meanwhile, preparations for a deal march on, with representatives from News Corp. and Dow Jones already vetting a list of names for the five-person editorial-independence oversight board the two companies agreed to form if a deal went through.