Ericsson AB is in talks to buy Microsoft Corp.’s IPTV business, which makes software used by phone companies such as AT&T Inc. to deliver television over the Internet, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The deal could be announced in a few weeks, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Annual sales at Microsoft’s IPTV business, called MediaRoom, have stayed near $350 million for the past three years, according to Raymond James & Associates, and the unit could fetch more than $1 billion, Cross Research says.