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TWX-AOL talks progress?
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November 28, 2000: 6:09 a.m. ET
Regulators delay vote to block merger as progress cited - report
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. regulators have put off a vote set for Thursday to block America Online Inc.'s planned acquisition of Time Warner Inc. after settlement talks made new progress, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Federal Trade Commission officials said a new Internet-access contract between Time Warner and AOL competitor EarthLink Inc. was a major step forward, the newspaper said, citing people briefed on the talks.
But regulators are asking for more information on the EarthLink contract and may seek changes before giving the final green light to a merger between AOL and Time Warner, the report said.
 One of the FTC's major conditions in reviewing the merger proposal is that Time Warner agree to allow AOL competitors to provide Internet access over Time Warner cable systems before AOL itself could sell such services. This condition was imposed in a bid to preserve competition in high-speed Internet access services in cities served by Time Warner cable, the Journal said.
FTC officials also want Time Warner's news and entertainment programming to continue to be available to AOL's Internet competitors after the companies merge, people briefed on the talks told the paper. AOL and Time Warner Monday both rejected this demand, these people said.
Stock in Time Warner (TWX: Research, Estimates), the parent company of CNN and CNNfn, rose $2.80 to $65.87 Monday while AOL added $1.07 to $43.97. 
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