News Briefing for Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Following through on its announcement during its first-quarter earnings call late last month that it would spin off its cable unit in its entirety, Time Warner Inc. released a statement today saying it has determined the financial terms of the complete separation of Time Warner Cable from the parent company. As part of the separation, Time Warner Cable shareholders will get a $10.9 billion dividend; Time Warner Cable will pay $9.25 billion of that dividend to Time Warner Inc. Payment of this special dividend will saddle the newly independent Time Warner Cable with “significant debt,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Time Warner Inc. investors, meanwhile, hope that with the spin-off, a more focused company will impress Wall Street analysts. [Bloomberg | Reuters | Wall Street Journal]

Microsoft is definitively no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo, according to company CEO Steve Ballmer, Reuters reports. Other types of deals between the two companies may in the offing. [Reuters]

CBS increased its volume of free TV episodes on the Web. [Wall Street Journal]

Live TV commercials are making a comeback as a response to ad-skipping digital video recorder technology, the New York Times reports. [New York Times]

Money manager David Tice tells Bloomberg that unless the Federal Reserve and Wall Street break their addiction to easy credit, an economic depression is inevitable. [Bloomberg] Tuesday’s Top Stories

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The Name’s ESPN, Just ESPN

Forget ESPN Flagship, ESPN All Access or ESPN DTC. The name for ESPN’s forthcoming direct-to-consumer offering of its flagship channel is expected to just be called “ESPN.” Sources told CNBC that execs

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