The move comes as little surprise, as former CEO Dick Parsons acknowledged in September that Time Warner would at some point divest itself from the AOL access business, though he made no commitment to do so at the time.

On Bewkes’ first quarterly financial conference call Wednesday since taking his position as CEO on Jan. 1, he said Time Warner’s plans to split AOL’s businesses will help hasten the segment’s business-model transition from “a declining ISP subscription business to a growing Internet ad business.”

“This should significantly increase AOL’s strategic options for each of these main business sectors,” Bewkes said on a call to reveal Time Warner’s fourth-quarter 2007 earnings. He made a distinction between AOL’s for-fee Internet-access service and its ad-supported audience business, which includes AOL’s online services and content.

Bewkes did not give a specific timeline or other details for when and how the split will occur. AOL’s Internet-access business, which still provides for-fee service, continues to decline in subscribers even as Bewkes noted that Time Warner has reduced operating expenses at AOL by “well over a billion dollars.”

Still, even as AOL’s goal is to become a viable online advertising competitor against Google, Yahoo and Microsoft — the latter two of which may soon become a single and more formidable rival — advertising revenue for AOL has been growing less than the industry average for several quarters.

In the fourth quarter, ad revenue at AOL grew 18 percent, less than the current International Advertising Bureau’sindustry average of 25 percent. As a point of comparison, Google’s ad revenue grew 51 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter.

AOL’s ad revenue growth was below industry average for both its 2007 second and third quarters as well. It grew 13 percent in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, and 16 percent in the second quarter, which ended June 30. The industry average was around 26 percent for those time periods.

Time Warner’s financial results for the quarter overall met Wall Street expectations, but net income was down for the quarter. The company reported $1.03 billion, or $0.28 a share, for the fourth quarter, down from $1.75 billion, or $0.44, last year. However, the results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 were bolstered by an income-tax benefit as well as income from the sale of AOL Internet access businesses in the U.K. and France.

Quarterly revenue rose 2.4 percent, from $12.34 billion in the year-ago quarter to $12.64 billion, reported Wednesday.

Bewkes on Wednesday also outlined other cost-cutting and strategic measures that Time Warner plans to take to make the business run more effectively. The company’s AOL business is not the only one that will be affected; the company also is considering reducing its investments in its Time Warner Cable business, he said.

 Doctors say the cocktail of drugs that killed Health Ledger — a deadly mix of powerful prescription painkillers, anxiety drugs and a sleeping pill — was not a combination that any single physician could have reasonably prescribed

According to a statement issued by the New York City medical examiner’s spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, Ledger “died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.”

A statement later issued by Ledger’s family suggests that all of the drugs found in the actor’s body were in therapeutic levels, contributing to the notion that it was no single medication that directly caused his death.

Both oxycodone and hydrocodone (known by the trade names Oxycontin and Vicodin) are powerful opioid pain medications. Diazepam (Valium), temazepam (Restoril) and alprazolam (Xanax) are prescribed to treat anxiety. And doxylamine (Unisom) is a sleep aid.

ut considering the powerful nature of the drugs in the mix, say doctors, it’s little surprise that the drug combination turned out to be fatal.

“Any one of these drugs, in the right amount, could be dangerous or fatal,” says Dr. Vatsal Thakkar, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical Center.

 Kirsten Dunst has checked into rehab, reports Star magazine online. Dunst was branded quite a while ago as “Kirsten Drunkst” by many gossip bloggers who wrote about her party habits, so I think this next step will not come as a surprise to many.

The Suns have agreed to the trade that will bring center Shaquille O’Neal to Phoenix in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

O’Neal passed his physical exam to the Suns’ satisfaction this afternoon and a trade call was being placed with the league to make the trade official.

O’Neal flew into the Valley today and could even be in attendance at US Airways Center on Wednesday night for Phoenix’s 7 p.m. game with New Orleans.

Though O’Neal has been out with a hip injury, it was believed that he would pass the physical because he is in great condition and is said to be at 312 pounds (down from his listed 325 pounds) with low body fat.

He seems to be a motivated player too, having jumped on a plane this morning after talking to several of the Suns, such asSteve Nash and Amaré Stoudemire, on Tuesday night

Sylvester Stallone has signed a multimillion-pound deal to direct and star in two new action films.The actor will join forces with Rambo producers Danny Dimbort, Avi Lerner and Trevor Short of Nu Image/Millennium Films following the success of his recent Rambo and Rocky sequels. He told the Hollywood Reporter: “The past year and a half of working with Avi, his partners Danny and Trevor and his film family has been nothing but a high point for me and my career and an extremely rewarding experience. Avi is a real gentleman and a man of his word.”Stallone’s 2006 film Rocky Balboa grossed $70 million, while the fourth installment in theRambo franchise took $18.2 million in its opening weekend in the US last month.The 61-year-old is said to be looking at scripts for further movies in both series, despite previously insisting that the recent sequels would be the last.He is also separately working on a remake of 1974 vigilante drama Death Wish.Studio boss Harvey Weinstein recently said he wants to make a fifth Rambo movie before Stallone gets too old.