AOL mulls cable bid

NEWS AOL Time Warner is to make a bid for AT&T's cable division, according to US reports. The combined companies would have 27 million subscribers, a third of the total US cable market. The deal would see AOL get up to 49 per cent of the independent joint venture. According to anonymous sources quoted by the New York Times the deal was given impetus by last week's decision to back away from pursuing the Microsoft anti-trust case. Any AOL deal of this size would get the attention of the regulators, but the Microsoft ruling was interpreted as a signal of a lighter regulatory touch from Washington.