Relations between Malone's Liberty Media and AT&T remain tense. Here's why:

-- Starz Encore, Liberty's premium cable movie unit, filed suit against AT&T on July 10, claiming AT&T owes $44 million to cover programming costs. AT&T disputes the claim.

-- AT&T (T

) and Liberty (LMG.A

) are at an impasse over how much Malone must pay for access to AT&T channels for interactive programming.

-- Liberty will invest up to $1 billion to help News Corp. (NWS

) buy DirecTV (GMH

), which competes with AT&T Broadband.