Time Warner to Sell Cable Business

Time Warner plans to sell off its cable television business, currently the second-largest cable provider in the United States behind Comcast.

During its quarterly earnings call Time Warner, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes revealed that the company is looking to sell its interest in Time Warner Cable, and that final details of the deal should be completed soon. “We’ve decided that a complete structural separation of Time Warner Cable, under the right circumstances, is in the best interests of both companies’ shareholders,” Bewkes said in a statement.

Time Warner owns 84 percent of Time Warner Cable’s stock after rolling off a part of the cable unit into the separate company Bright House Networks in 2003. The move isn’t unexpected, as Time Warner has been evaluating how to trim back its holdings and improve its bottom line. Bewkes noted that the cable division has financial and capital needs that are significantly different than the rest of Time Warner’s media-oriented businesses, and that separating the two operations will enable each to focus on what they do best.

Time Warner also owns AOL, which is still trying to find its legs in a lengthy conversion process from a walled-garden online service to a advertising-supported collection of free online services and media hubs. AOL saw its revenue decrease 23 percent in its most recent quarter as paying subscribers continue to leave the service. Time Warner Cable, conversely, posted a profit of $771 million for its most recent quarter.