Time Warner to Sell AOL Europe

Sources within Time Warner have revealed that the company will part with the service provider components of its AOL divisions in Europe. News on the progress of the selling will not be disclosed to the public until next month. However, an update came from the British Sky Broadcasting Group that claims to be in an advanced state of negotiations with Time Warner over the acquisition of AOL UK. In the eventuality of a successful deal the British Sky Broadcasting Group will be left to provide dial-up and broadband services to the present 2.2 million AOL customers in the UK.

"We would look at it purely from an opportunistic basis," said BskyB Chief Executive Officer James Murdoch. "We don't have a huge appetite for acquisitions in this space. We're not interested in paying high prices in a competitive situation. We're right in the middle, with a number of other parties, of trying to understand that business a lot better, but I think there are a lot of question marks around it.

British Sky Broadcasting Group will only add AOL's former customers to their own estimated 8.1 million subscribers at the end of 2005 only if the price tag adjacent to the transaction will meet certain standards. And it is likely that this will be the case as AOL Europe access business is struggling with an increasing number of canceled subscriptions. At this point AOL's Internet access business in Europe accounts for no more than 5.9 million customers.