Comcast and Time Warner Cable are in talks to fund a new joint venture with Sprint and Clearwire, creating a nationwide WiMax network that the cable companies could then access on a wholesale basis.

"Under the plan the parties are reviewing, Comcast - the largest cable operator with 24 million subscribers - would put as much as $1 billion into the venture, with No. 2 operator Time Warner Cable adding $500 million," according to The Wall Street Journal's Amol Sharma and Vishesh Kumar. "The sixth-biggest cable operator, Bright House Networks, is also involved in the talks and would contribute between $100 million and $200 million."

"A major investment by Time Warner and Comcast in WiMax wireless Internet technology would further raise the stakes in the cable companies' rivalry with telecom carriers Verizon and AT&T, which have each been aggressively promoting their FiOS and U-Verse services as alternatives to traditional cable television and Internet," notes Computerworld's Brad Reed.

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