Tele Communications Inc

Cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. announced Tuesday that it will subsidize computers as well as training programs transmitted over cable and satellite systems to public schools. While TCI executives predicted it will be years before the venture--called ETC w/tci--will turn a profit, they said they intend for the project to eventually become a moneymaker by nurturing interest in its products with public school students and teachers.

Liberty Media Corp., the media investment company controlled by John Malone, will do a stock swap with the heirs of Tele-Communications Inc.'s late founder, Bob Magness, reducing Malone's voting control of Liberty. Liberty will exchange 105 million Class A common shares, worth $1.2 billion at Liberty's Monday closing price, for the Magness family's Class B shares. Malone, 62, has voting rights over those shares as part of a 1998 agreement with the family.

United Artists Entertainment Co. agreed Friday to a sweetened merger offer from Tele-Communications Inc. of Denver. The revised deal calls for 65 million shares of United Artists' Class A and Class B common stock to be converted into Tele-Communications Class A stock at a ratio of one share to 1.02 shares. Tele-Communications' previous proposal, announced May 1, had offered 0.95 share for each outstanding share.

Companies wanting to expand Sunshine Canyon Landfill and transfer ownership of the east San Fernando Valley's cable franchise led in spending among Los Angeles City Hall lobbyists during the first quarter of 1999, paying a combined $262,000 to influence the city.

Bell Atlantic early on staked out a reputation as the most ambitious of the regional telephone companies when it came to breaking into the cable TV business. Yet all its ventures to date pale compared to the latest. Today, Bell Atlantic and Tele-Communications Inc., the big cable firm, are expected to announce they will combine to form a $44-billion telecommunications colossus that will immediately become one of the largest corporations in America.

In a move that could lead to vast changes in the movie-going experience, the nation's largest cable TV operator on Friday secured the rights to broadcast four blockbuster films before they hit theaters. Tele-Communications Inc., the Denver-based cable operator that serves about 20% of the nation's 60 million cable households, said it would invest up to $90 million in Hollywood's Carolco Pictures Inc.

The merger of cable TV giant Tele-Communications Inc. and Liberty Media Corp., which was formally announced Friday, would create a communications colossus with a stock value of almost $30 billion, and sway over 23% of all cable TV subscribers in the country. The combined company would also join the rarefied ranks of media giants such as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns the Fox film and TV studio, and Time Warner Inc., whose vast holdings span film and publishing and cable.

Comcast Corp., Tele-Communications Inc. Extend Offer for QVC: The tender offer was extended for about three weeks. Holders of QVC shares are now entitled to tender or withdraw their shares until Feb. 6, unless the offer is further extended, said Philadelphia-based Comcast and Liberty Media Corp., a subsidiary of Englewood, Colo.-based TCI. The extension was made because conditions of the tender offer had not been completed by Friday, the previous deadline.

Turner Resigns Seat on TCI Board: Tele-Communications Inc. said Ted Turner, chairman and president of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., has resigned his seat on the giant cable operator's board, effective immediately. Turner, who joined the nine-member board of Englewood, Colo.-based TCI last year, is leaving "due to responsibilities accompanying the recently announced Turner-Time Warner proposed merger," a Tele-Communications statement said.

In a reversal of strategy that signals continuing management turmoil, Seagram Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. is searching for a high-level executive to oversee the entertainment assets bought by his family's liquor conglomerate four years ago. Sources close to Seagram say Leo Hindery Jr., who is credited with saving Tele-Communications Inc.

AT&T Corp. completed its $55-billion acquisition of cable TV giant Tele-Communications Inc., a deal that creates a one-stop shop for phone service, Internet access and cable television. The long-distance giant also plans to provide local phone service over TCI's cable wires. AT&T plans to pilot telephone service over cable in 10 U.S. cities by year-end.

AT&T Corp., the nation's largest phone company, won approval Thursday from the California Public Utilities Commission for its acquisition of cable television operator Tele-Communications Inc., in what may be the last government approval before completion of the purchase. The nation's largest phone company plans to use TCI's cable lines for phone service in addition to high-speed Internet access and cable TV.

AT&T Corp. and Tele-Communications Inc. cleared the last major hurdles Wednesday in their proposed $48-billion merger when the deal won approval from the Federal Communications Commission and shareholders of both companies. The deal would in effect create one-stop shopping for phone service, Internet access and cable television. AT&T's planned purchase of TCI, the No. 2 cable television company, is expected to close shortly.

AT&T Corp., the nation's largest long-distance phone company, won't be forced to let rivals have unfettered access to its high-speed cable-TV networks in order to win approval of its $61-billion purchase of No. 2 cable operator Tele-Communications Inc., the Federal Communications Commission said. Some competitors, such as America Online Inc.

Charter Communications Corp., a cable-TV operator owned by billionaire Paul Allen, and Tele-Communications Inc. will acquire cable systems from InterMedia Partners in a transaction valued at $2.4 billion, the companies said. Charter will gain 400,000 of InterMedia's 1.2 million subscribers and give TCI, the No. 2 cable-TV operator and co-owner of InterMedia, cable systems in Montana and Indiana with 140,000 customers. TCI will also receive 300,000 subscribers in Nashville from InterMedia.

TCI in New Agreements: Cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. has reached retransmission consent agreements with 14 television broadcasters who operate in some of the biggest markets. They include KCOP in Los Angeles, KBHK in San Francisco and WWOR in New York. Brendan Clouston, chief operating officer of TCI, said the company opposes paying for retransmission rights. The new agreements involve other incentives to broadcasters.

It's all over but the voting. The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday had to put off a vote on an ordinance governing the controversial delivery of the Internet on cable TV, but signaled that it will approve the ordinance later. Several speakers urged the council to approve the ordinance, which would allow AT & T to take over a 94,000-subscriber cable TV system in the east San Fernando Valley. The vote was postponed for lack of a quorum.

In a last-minute turnabout that in part suggests internal turmoil, AT&T Corp. scrapped plans to create a new stock tracking its highest-growth and riskiest businesses as part of its $42-billion acquisition of cable giant Tele-Communications Inc.