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AOL in UK cable talks
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April 30, 2001: 8:16 a.m. ET
Media company in talks with NTL to form European cable alliance
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LONDON (CNN) - AOL Time Warner, the biggest media company, is in talks with UK cable operator NTL about a European cable alliance.
The U.S. company is interested in a broadband distribution deal and has held discussions with NTL, in addition to a number of other European cable companies, a source told CNN .
AOL Time Warner (AOL: Research, Estimates), which has no cable networks in Europe, is seeking access to NTL's networks to share revenues from broadband customers in exchange for its content.
AOL declined to comment on a Financial Times report that the two were in talks, while NTL, whose investors include France Telecom (PFTE) and Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates, did not immediately return calls.
NTL (NLI: Research, Estimates), the UK's biggest cable company, has 8.5 million subscribers in the UK, France, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden and passes 20 million homes.
The company, which is listed on the New York stock exchange, last week secured £388 million ($556 million) of financing from GE Capital to ease financial worries amid concerns cable companies in the UK would not earn a return on infrastructure investments, the FT said.
If AOL and NTL agree a deal, it will be the first evidence of AOL Time Warner embarking on expansion outside the U.S. since the completion of the £72 billion merger of America Online and Time Warner earlier this year, the paper said. AOL Time Warner is the parent of CNN.
British Telecom, the country's second biggest phone company, was also approached but could not provide the required broadband capabilities, the FT said.
Executives at AOL Time Warner have indicated that they would increase revenue in Europe from 17 to 50 percent over the next 10 years. European revenues were $4 billion to $5 billion last year out of a total of $36.2 billion. 
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