 In 1999, HBO became the first national cable TV network to broadcast a high–definition version of its channel.In January 2000, AOL stated its intentions to purchase Time Warner for $164 billion.Due to the larger market capitalization of AOL, their shareholders would own 55% of the new company while Time Warner shareholders owned only 45%, so in actual practice AOL had merged with Time Warner, even though Time Warner had far more assets and revenues.