Time Warner Cable Spinoff OK'd by FCC

Updated from 3:46 p.m. EST

The Federal Communications Commission announced Wednesday it had approved Time Warner Cable's spinoff from Time Warner(TWX).

Final approval of the spinoff requires a tax letter from the Internal Revenue Service.

Shares of Time Warner, which competes with Viacom(VIA), News Corp.(NWS) and Disney(DIS), closed up 0.8% to $8.73.

Shares of Time Warner Cable(TWC), which competes with such companies as Verizon(VZ) and Cablevision(CVC), closed down 2.3% to $18.10.

As posted on the FCC Web site, Time Warner and Time Warner Cable expect to have "greater strategic, financial and operational flexibility" as separate entities. TWC will retain its programming assets as part of the separation. Time Warner Cable will continue to own its local and regional programming services and will retain its minority interests in SportsNet New York, MLB Network, and inDEMAND.

TheStreet.comr recently reported that Time Warner could be pressed into buying back Google's(TWC) stake in its AOL unit or spinning off the company, a move the company has considered but for which it hasn't found a suitor (talks with Yahoo!(YHOO) haven't resulted in a deal).

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