AOL in talks to buy Third Screen Media - WSJ

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Time Warner Inc.'s AOL is in talks to acquire
mobile phone advertising start-up Third Screen Media, the Wall Street
Journal said on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The deal for the company, which posts small advertisements on
cellphone screens, is likely to be in the range of $80 million, the
paper said, adding that the talks could still fall through.

Last year, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN unit was close to buying Third Screen
but the deal fell apart, the paper said, citing people familiar with
the matter.

At that time the company told Reuters that it was looking for
additional funding to expand its mobile advertising business rather
than trying to sell the company.

AOL and Third Screen have been negotiating since early this year and
discussions are fairly advanced, the Journal said, citing people
familiar with the talks.

If a deal happens Third Screen is likely to become part of AOL's
Advertising.com unit, which helps broker ads on the Internet, the
paper said.

AOL and Third Screen were not immediately available on Tuesday to comment.

Wireless providers, advertisers and media companies are all eyeing
wireless devices as potential vehicles for advertising as more and
more cellphones have high quality color screens, video players and Web
browsers.

Third Screen hopes to carve out a niche in this market by selling
software that specializes in placing ads on mobile video clips, Web
sites and video game players.