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Microsoft to invest in TCI?
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October 15, 1997: 8:25 p.m. ET
TCI needs cash to acquire next line of boxes, and Microsoft may help
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Microsoft Corp. is reportedly looking at investing between $600 million and $1 billion in cable television company Tele-Communications Inc.
TCI, the country's largest cable operator, may be interested in such a deal because it needs to upgrade to digital cable boxes that can accommodate high-speed Internet access, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Microsoft and Tele-Communications officals declined to comment. Microsoft has been showing strong interest in the cable industry, most recently investing $1 billion in Comcast Corp. in June.
Under a proposed arrangement, Microsoft could acquire some of the shares of the late TCI founder Robert Magness from Lehman Bros. and Merrill Lynch & Co., who received those shares for $500 million in a settlement of taxes on Magness' estate.
Originally it was believed that TCI was talking to Microsoft about installing converter boxes which would utilize Microsoft technology. However, it appears that talks are covering a far wider range of issues.
TCI has staunchly argued that the next generation of set boxes not favor Microsoft at the expense of other software firms, so it is not apparent how much sway Microsoft would actually hold over TCI's decisions.
The combination of television and Internet access is seen as a major passageway to greater World Wide Web use.
Microsoft wants to extend the influence it has in the personal computer market to consumer electronics devices, believing that if those devices begin to embrace a different standard it could eventually encroach on its own core business. 
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