MAJOR PAPERS:

• Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LCAPA) filed a lawsuit in Delaware against IAC/InterActiveCorp's (NASDAQ: IACI) Barry Diller in an attempt to block Mr. Diller from completing the spinoffs of several units on terms that could dilute Liberty's voting power; the suit follows a suit filed by IAC against Liberty seeking to complete the divestiture on its own terms, the Wall Street Journal said.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Evening Standard learned that billionaire Wilbur Ross is in takeover talks with AMBAC Financial Group Inc (NYSE: ABK) and that a deal could come within the next two weeks.

WEB SITES:

• According to analysts, TheDeal.com's Dealscape blog reported that the troubles at WellCare Health Plans Inc (NYSE: WCG) could lead to a sale of the company after the departure of the company's three executives.
• Citing a source close to Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD), CRN.com reported that rumors of a merger between the company and International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) "is nothing but speculation." A rumor in Mergermarket, which caused AMD's share price to spike almost 11% on Wednesday, said IBM's microelectronics division could merge with AMD "possibly in the near term."

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Aerospace stocks, WuXi Pharma, Myriad Genetics, Cypress Bioscience and Knology were today's noteworthy initiations:

• LYON initiated shares of aerospace stocks including Goodrich Corporation (NYSE: GR), TransDigm Group Inc (NYSE: TDG) and Triumph Group Incorporated (NYSE: TGI) with Add ratings and a $74 target, $45 target and $90 target, respectively.
  
• WuXi Pharmatech (NYSE: WX) was started with a Hold rating and $29 target at Jefferies on valuation. JP Morgan started shares with a Neutral rating and Credit Suisse initiated shares with an Outperform rating.
  
• Myriad Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: MYGN) was started with a Hold rating and $50 target at Citigroup, as the firm is cautious on the Phase III Flurizan results and does not recommend putting new money here at these levels.
  
• Citigroup also initiated shares of Cypress Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: CYPB) with a Buy rating and $22 target as the firm believes Milnacipran has sufficient database for approval and is capable of gaining meaningful market share as firstline therapy.
  
• Knology Inc (NASDAQ: KNOL) was initiated with a Buy rating and $25 target at BWS Financial, as the firm believes the company's growth potential is greater than other cable companies through a business plan that allows it to have operations in all regions of the U.S.

OTHER INITIATIONS:

• Wachovia resumed coverage of Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LCAPA) with an Outperform rating.
  
• Northwest Airlines Corporation (NYSE: NWA) and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE: DAL) were initiated with Overweight ratings at JP Morgan.
  
• Thomas Weisel started shares of Tyco Electronics (NYSE: TEL) with a Market Weight rating.
  
• Goldman initiated shares of Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Activision Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI) with Buy ratings and THQ Inc (NASDAQ: THQI) with a Neutral rating.

Monday September 17

• Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 5pm
• UTStarcom Inc (NASDAQ: UTSI) to hold business news update at 6pm

Tuesday September 18

• Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) to hold special media event at the London flagship store at 10am
• Federal Open Market Commiittee meeting; announcement at 2:15pm
• Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting (Two-day Meeting, 9/18 - 9/19)

Wednesday Septermber 19

• General Mills Inc (NYSE: GIS) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 8:30am
• Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 11am.

Thursday September 20

• The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 8:30am
• The Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE: BSC) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 10am
• Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 5pm

Friday September 21

• Sysco Corporation (NYSE: SYY) to hold analyst meeting at 8am
• Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LINTA) to hold 2007 Investors' Meeting at 9am
• Alexander & Baldwin Inc (NASDAQ: ALEX) strategic update at 2pm

Investment bank Sifel Nicalous believes that IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI) may sell one of its largest units, Home Shopping Network to Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA), a company controlled by John Malone. It would allow IACI to become an almost purely internet company.

Such a sale would transform the company. Retail operations which is mainly HSN accounted for $787 million of IACI's $1.595 billion in revenue last quarter. The balance was from online businesses including Lending Tree, Ask.com, and Match.com. While HSN was half of the company's revenue, its was only 43% of operating profit.

IACI's chairman Barry Diller would be gambling that a pure internet play would be valued more highly by the stock market than a hybrid firm with a large retail component.

While Diller may be right, he would end up with an only operation much smaller than properties like MSN and AOL, and that lack of scale could worry investors.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is reviewing its options to finance the building of WiMax, a wireless broadband network; a hook-up with Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) is a possibility.
• The word is out that Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LCAPA) and EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) will make a joint bid for the satellite communications provider Intelsat, Ltd, possibly somewhere in the $4.5B-$5.5B range, the Wall Street Journal reported.
  
• The Financial Times reported that Congress removed blocks on arms transfer requests by U.K. weapons manufacturer BAE Systems plc (OTC: BAESY), acting after BAE assured them that the transfer requests were unrelated to a defunct British investigation into bribery allegations involving Saudi Arabia and BAE.
• According to Barron's Online's "Weekday Trader," Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) is climbing its way back to electronic prominence, but more work remains, and it may be time to take profits.

WEBSITES:

• LiveMint.com reported that Citigroup Inc's (NYSE: C) emerging markets private-equity investment arm, Citigroup Venture Capital International, will reportedly invest $1.5B in India over the next three years, the largest investment by a single private-equity investor in the Indian markets.

Last night marked a once a every-few-years event: another Major League Baseball team got sold. Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) was finally given all approvals to close the sale of the Atlanta Braves to Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LINTA). The hold-up was the approval from Major League Baseball because of media changes and the potential changes that they take into consideration, but that is final.

Liberty Media exchanged approximately 68.5 million shares of Time Warner common stock for a newly created subsidiary that holds the Atlanta Braves, Time Inc.'s Leisure Arts, and $960 million in cash. Liberty has also retained approximately 103 million shares, or about 2.8% of Time Warner common stock.

This will also essentially complete Time Warner's $20 billion share buyback plan, taking care of two parts of its restructuring at once. This is a deal that had been in the works for some time, and that should put the restructuring at least well into the second half of the game. Batter up!

Jon Ogg is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Remember when James Cameron directed the Terminator movies and he was unequivocally regarded as awesome? Then he made this little period piece about some boat sinking, proclaimed himself "King of the World," which was perceived as arrogant but was really just a quote, traded in wives, and was never really heard from for nearly a decade.

So what's the best way to move back into the limelight? Find Jesus. And not in the same way that Stephen Baldwin has. The Oscar-winning filmmaker said yesterday that a group of stone boxes, originally discovered two decades ago within a hillside tomb in Jerusalem, once held the remains of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene.

It appears John Malone, once again, is setting up for one of the largest trades in media history. Liberty Media Corporation Capital (NASDAQ: LCAPA) CEO indicated that he would rather own a stake in DirecTV (NYSE: DTV), a mature and highly competitive media distribution platform, than News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), with its massive global programming and infrastructure platform -- which now includes Myspace.com.

Why would master deal-maker Malone want to do this? Most likely to then turn around and sell DirecTV to the likes of Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T). Why? The fiber network that the Baby Bells have constructed is not getting much of an uptake. Market share gains are anemic and they are getting killed by the cable companies.

One reason the Bells effort is not getting traction is they have no experience signing deals with programmers. To get competitively priced content, you need scale in the form of a big audience. The Bells do not have this, but DirecTV would provide this.

This Fly's prediction is: Malone gets control of DirecTV and then auctions it off with the bidders being Verizon and AT&T. The Bells will lose too much face if they have to admit their fiber build-out was a bust. Malone will convince them to pay a nice premium to his purchase price.

As if $7 beers, steroid scandals, and terrible haircuts (oh, Johnny Damon, what happened?) weren't enough of a challenge for the beleagured game of baseball to overcome, now there's an even bigger threat to worry about: changes in corporate ownership.

The Atlanta Braves are up on the auction block (as they have been for quite a while), and it looks like Time Warner may finally get out of the big leagues by selling them to Colorado-based Liberty Media Corporation.

Ted Turner had long held a soft spot for the Atlanta Braves, acquiring them three decades ago. When Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting System in 1996, it also picked up the Braves. But rather than seeing the Braves as a perk, TWX has long viewed the Braves as an albatross around its neck.

Third baseman Chipper Jones, echoing the sentiments many Braves, is worried about the corporate switch-up pitch. "I don't know what [Liberty Media's] intentions are as far as salary structure, but the bottom line is: They're from out of town."

If TWX can sell the Braves, will it finally get back on base?