So why not spin off the cable channels as an independent company and unlock some value for shareholders?

FORBES: Spinoffs

News Corp has offered to spin-off Sky News as an independent company as part of the takeover deal.

BBC: Government approves BSkyB takeover

Media giant Time Warner has announced plans to spin off its Time Inc magazine unit into an independent, publicly traded company by the end of the year.

BBC: Time Warner to spin off Time Magazine

The clever wheeze that Mr Hunt had negotiated with James Murdoch of News Corporation was that News Corporation would spin off 61% of Sky News into a new independent company, which would have a new board of its own and would be funded by News Corporation for a decade.

BBC: How Hunt avoided lengthy review of Murdoch��s Sky bid

This bodes well for distance learning companies such as Class.com, a 1998 spin-off of a longtime University of Nebraska program called Independent Study High School.

CNN: Web puts the home back in homework

Before the end of June, Tyco will spin off the electronics and health care divisions, which will become independent, publicly traded companies.

FORBES: Tyco Triple Play