Time Warner

Cable World, March 12, 2001

1992 -- February

In a revision of the 1984 Cable Act the U.S. Congress passes the 1992 Cable Act, empowering the FCC to set horizontal limits on the number of cable customers served by any one company and vertical limits on the number of channels on a cable system that could be occupied by a video programmer owned by the cable company.

* 1992 -- November

Time Warner files a lawsuit seeking to overturn major provisions of the new legislation on First Amendment grounds.

* 1993

The FCC formally adopts Act's cable ownership 30% cap provision.

* 1999 -- March

AT&T gains 11 million Tele-Communications Inc. customers by purchasing TCI and forms table-phone unit AT&T Broadband Services.

* 1999 -- May

AT&T moves to become the nation's largest cable TV provider with a $57 billion stock bid for cable giant MediaOne Group, The proposed deal would give the nation's No. 1 phone company control of more than 42% of the U.S. cable TV market.

* 2000 -- May

U.S. Court of Appeals reaffirms the FCC's underlying authority to set ownership limits. In a ruling upholding the FCC in TimeWarner's challenge to its rules.

* 1999 -- October

FCC votes to maintain the 30% cable ownership cap but expands the overall pie to include the 10 million DBS subscribers as part of the video market, effectively increasing cable's ownership limits by about 6.7%.

* 2000 -- June

Three-judge panel (Ginsburg, Rogers and Tatel) of D.C. Circuit upholds FCC ownership and attribution in a First Amendment facial challenge. AT&T agrees to FCC order that it divest certain assets to avoid the

* 2000 -- October

The case of Time Warner Entertainment v, FCC, 94-1035, is brought by Time Warner and AT&T to block the FCC's implementation of cable ownership caps. In a separate lawsuit, Time Warner challenges the vertical limits set out in the 1992 legislation. AT&T splits into four units, wireless and business services as separate companies and consumer business trading as a tracking stock.

* 2000 -- December

AT&T announces it will spin off the Liberty Media Group in compliance with the FCC's merger conditions for its MediaOne merger. The FCC is now reviewing its requirements concerning the MediaOne purchase.

* 2001 - February

U.S. Supreme Court upholds federal cable ownership rules, refusing to hear a lawsuit filed by AOL Time Warner challenging the constitutionality of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, and rejecting AT&T's First Amendment arguments filed with the lawsuit.

* 2001 - March 2

In the case of TimeWarner Entertainment v. FCC 94-1035, the U.S. Court of Appeals rejects the FCC's limits on cable ownership, sending the matter back to the FCC for reconsideration,

* 2001 - March 20

AT&T must notify the FCC whether it can meet the May 19 deadline to shed the required assets. The FCC's deadline (set before the Mar. 2 appeals court ruling) requires AT&T to divest either its 25.5% stake in Time Warner Entertainment, its Liberty Media Group cable provider or a collection of other cable assets.

* 2001 - Fall

U.S. Appeals Court expected to hear case filed by Fox, CBS and NBC challenging the FCC's limit on one company owning TV stations that together reach more than 35% of the nation's homes.