This is my theory on what happened in the last 24+ hours with this tape: Geraldo wanted to show the tape, but JH said "show me the money"... Geraldo said "oh hell no", but went ahead and did the analysis of the tape on the air with the other people, not showing the audience the tape. Show ends, watchers flood FOX... execs rip Geraldo a new one... Geraldo finds his brain and says "wait a minute, I know business law" and contacts the Anthonys to explain chain-of-command on the tape is theirs since JH was their employee (working for free, or not, he was till working for the Anthonys.) As well, Geraldo may have played on their heart with a "look, this guy is trying to cash in big time", so the Anthony's agree to let Geraldo show the tape as long as no money is made off of it, before any other station pays JH the right to see and broadcast it, totally bursting JH's money grubbing tactics of wanting a "kings ransom" for it (per Geraldo when explaining why he couldn't show it).
Do I think the A's knew about the tape before it was made public: no... but that is my personal opinion based on personal feelings.