I listened to two investor conferences featuring top AOL execs over the past two days, and these guys are clearly on the fence in terms of selling dial-up, at least in the short-term.

Randy Falco and Ron Grant, speaking at Merrill Lynch’s conference on September 17 clearly said that no sale will occur in the short-term. Falco said “We still have nine million very valuable customers who generate an enormous amount of page views for us.” “I think about it a lot but I think ‘do I really want those nine million users in the hands of a third-party?’”

Then, speaking at a Goldman Sachs event, Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons said that although he can see a “disconnect” between dial-up customers and page views within the next 12 to 18 months, when asked point blank whether Time Warner would sell AOL’s access business, Parsons said he was tempted to say yes, but with two caveats. “One, this world changes so quickly that you don’t want to set your sails and say I don’t care what’s happening 12 to 18 months down the road because we’re heading this way.” And the second reason? The dial-up businesss spins off a lot of cash. “We’re focused on keeping that product, and at least as of today, it’s a strong driver of profitability and we’re focused on keeping this product strong and vibrant,” Parsons said.

It’s a safe bet that AOL will eventually sell its dial-up business for no other reason that the dial-up business will die, but right now it’s a big source of cash flow, maybe up to half of the $484 million OIBDA that AOL reported for Q2 07.

Cynthia