To beef up and better compete for digital advertising and buzz with ESPN, Turner's sports division is set to take control of the Web business of Sports Illustrated, owned by Time Warner's Time Inc. magazine unit. The partnership will combine Sports Illustrated's SI.com and Golf.com with a stable of websites managed by Turner Sports, such as NBA.com, Nascar.com and PGA.com.

Time Warner said it estimates the combined websites reach 40 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. Yahoo Inc. was the most-popular online sports destination in May, with 35.9 million unique visitors, followed by Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN, with 25.4 million, according to comScore Inc.