U.S. cable companies discuss funding wireless venture

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The two largest U.S. cable operators, Comcast and Time Warner Cable, are discussing a plan to fund a new wireless venture to be operated by Sprint Nextel and Clearwire, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Such a partnership would create a nationwide wireless network using an emerging high-speed technology known as WiMax, the Journal reported on its Web site, citing people familiar with the talks.

Comcast would put in as much as $1 billion (499 million pounds) and Time Warner Cable would add another $500 million, the Journal reported.

Bright House Networks, the sixth-largest U.S. cable provider, is also involved in the discussions and would provide between $100 million and $200 million for the venture, the Journal said.

Intel has also signalled willingness to put in $1 billion or more, and Google could provide hundreds of millions of dollars, the Journal reported.

Comcast and Clearwire were already working together on a WiMax rollout and are now trying to raise $3 billion for the venture, the Journal said.

It is possible that the deal could fall through, the Journal reported.

Intel, Sprint, Google and Clearwire officials declined to comment. Officials from Comcast and Time Warner Cable were not immediately available.

(Reporting by Anupreeta Das; Editing by Gary .....continued below

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