Time Warner Buys Court TV Stake

Steven Brill, the media entrepreneur who brought law to a wider audience with Court TV and American Lawyer magazine, has sold his stakes in both to partner Time Warner Inc.

Terms of the sale, announced Wednesday, were not disclosed.

Time Warner plans to keep the expanded stake in the Court TV cable network but sell its combined interest in American Lawyer Media--parent of American Lawyer magazine, the Counsel Connect lawyers’ online service and nine regional legal newspapers--to help pay off debt.

Brill, who founded American Lawyer in 1979, said in an interview that beginning about two years ago, he tried to buy out his partners and combine American Lawyer Media with Court TV.

“Everybody had agreed except for Ted Turner, so therefore I was unable to do it,” he said.

Brill said Turner, Time Warner’s vice chairman and head of its cable network business, did not want the company to divest its stake in Court TV, which reaches 30 million subscribers.

Brill told a meeting of Court TV employees Wednesday afternoon that he will continue to run the operation for six months.