AT&T reportedly seeking public sale of TWE stake

AT&T may continue its attempts to register its stake in Time Warner Entertainment for public sale to wrap up its deal with Comcast, Comcast officials said today.

AT&T, which owns a 25% stake in the AOL Time Warner’s entertainment and programming arm, asked last year that TWE be converted into a corporation and its stake put up for sale on the stock market. AT&T and AOL Time Warner in the last two years have failed to reach any privately negotiated deal for the sale of AT&T’s special class of shares, which give AT&T no voting power in the company.

But the process was interrupted last year, when AOL Time Warner began bidding for AT&T Broadband. With the cable unit going to Comcast, AT&T can again pursue the registration. As negotiations with AOL Time Warner have all resulted in stalemate, a public sale of the stake would be the less complicated and the scenario preferred by Comcast, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said at an analyst conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

--Kevin Fitchard, staff writer