The possibility of a spinoff of AOL from parent Time Warner wouldn't likely be discussed till next year, according to AOL CEO Jonathan Miller, the Financial Times reports. Miller gave the official signal for the launch of the free AOL.com portal this week, seeking to build audience and increase ad revenue. He said AOL would "need to have traction and a track record to have that conversation" about a spinoff, and he expects that to be the case next year, he told FT. If investors believe that the prospects of advertising revenue growth prospects are anything like Google's or Yahoo's, AOL could lift the media group's stock price - a consideration that others as well seem to have had in mind recently, at least in part.

Miller said that even if it weren't for the decline in subscribers he would have pushed for the ad-based business model, adding that AOL's free portal would be launched in Europe, where "the subscriber base is stable."

Time Warner already has a precedent for a partial spinoff. Time Warner Cable is due to be listed to finance part of the $17.6 billion acquisition of Adelphia, the first big deal by Time Warner since its merger with AOL at the height of the internet bubble.