I think it was more about trying to create some on-air and online partnership that back in the mid-90s was a pretty new thing. It was supposed to be “multimedia” and “interactive” or some such 90s buzzword laden thing.
Didn’t Time/AOL spectacularly fail way back when?
“To call the transaction the worst in history, as it is now taught in business schools, does not begin to tell the story of how some of the brightest minds in technology and media collaborated to produce a deal now regarded by many as a colossal mistake. “
In RetrospectHow the AOL-Time Warner Merger Went So Wrong
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11merger.html?pagewanted=all