Time Warner Cable spinoff officially under way

Though rumors began in 2006, actual news of Time Warner separating its cable division into a standalone company came in late April of this year. Today, the "complete legal and structural separation" of the two entities was announced.

In spinning off Time Warner Cable, parent Time Warner stands to gain $9.25 billion of a total $10.9 billion in shareholder dividends. For those counting, that means the media conglomerate holds 85.2% of the cable company's common stock.

Though Time Warner Cable is the United States' second-largest Multiple System Operator (MSO) behind Comcast with 14.7 million subscribers, by making it an independent company, CEO Jeff Bewkes expects to "increase our strategic and financial flexibility, [and] simplify our capital structure."

This marks the continued efforts of Bewkes to strategically re-structure Time Warner, which have already included the consolidation of New Line Cinema with Warner Bros. and potentially has AOL next in order.

The Time Warner Cable separation is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.