Forget new media, the IPC deal makes real sense anyway.(Brief Article)

When Time Warner merged with AOL back in 2000, old- and new-media observers united in collective orgasm at the prospect of this media mammoth for the 21st century.

Now, 18 months on, AOL Time Warner has done little, if anything, to fulfil this promise -- stymied in part by the regulatory hurdles that such a mega deal was subject to, particularly in its US heartland, but also, one feels, struggling to find the natural synergies between the new combo's traditional and new-media assets. So we're still waiting for the fireworks. And, if anything, AOL Time Warner's proposed acquisition of IPC in the UK seems to underline the very earthly nature of this supposedly celestial …