Oracle, Intel to Buy Stake in Net-Access Firm

Oracle Corp. and Intel Corp. will buy a stake in Time Warner Inc.’s Road Runner service, which provides high-speed Internet access over cable TV lines, sources close to the deal said. Under the pact, Time Warner would use software from Oracle’s majority-owned Network Computer Inc. in its new digital TV set-top boxes, the sources said. In exchange, Redwood Shores-based Oracle would invest an undetermined amount in Road Runner, along with Santa Clara-based Intel. Technology companies such as Oracle, Intel, Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. are rushing to grab part of the business of building new digital cable systems, which will let consumers surf the Internet from their TVs and watch TV on their personal computers. Besides surfing the Net, the new cable TV boxes promise to let consumers receive data and e-mail and get interactive TV programming over fast cable links to the home.