FTC: No Comment On Reported AOL-TW Vote Delay

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
would not comment today on reports that the agency had postponed a
planned vote on the pending America Online-Time Warner merger, in
response to recent progress made in the ongoing negotiations surrounding
the massive deal.

Citing unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal today reported that the
FTC had delayed the vote - originally scheduled to take place Thursday -
in
order to review recent moves made by Time Warner.

While she had no comment on the news report itself, FTC spokesperson
Claudia Bourne Farrell did say that the agency is not in the practice of
announcing upcoming votes.

The FTC maintains a weekly calendar on its Web site, which, as of this
writing, shows one commission meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, to
discuss an unspecified "enforcement action."

The Journal article states that FTC officials viewed Time Warner's recent
Internet access agreement with service provider - and AOL competitor -
EarthLink as a "major step forward" in the negotiation process.

AOL and Time Warner officials last week asked federal regulators to
rethink their stance on the proposed deal following the EarthLink
announcement.

The companies announced last week that Atlanta-based EarthLink, America's largest Internet service provider (ISP) after
AOL, had signed an agreement with Time Warner Cable that could enable
EarthLink to offer broadband Internet access services to the 20 million
homes that Time Warner's lines now reach, 12.6 million of which already
are cable-TV customers.

In recent weeks it had been reported that, with the FTC deadline looming,
AOL and Time Warner were pushing to get signatures on open-access pacts
with EarthLink and Juno Online Services.

Juno, the nation's third-largest ISP, was among the first AOL competitors
signed up for a trial of open access to Time Warner's cables, using its
Columbus, Ohio, plant as a test bed. However, it was clear those tests
wouldn't even begin before the FTC would need a more concrete
commitment from AOL that Time Warner's cable system would remain
open.