Company Town

Cable: Viacom and Tele-Communications Inc. may have scrapped their plan to form a joint venture for their adjoining cable systems on the West Coast. Instead, sources say, Viacom is considering the sale of its systems to a TCI-affiliated minority buyer, thereby qualifying Viacom for a tax deferral under federal rules meant to encourage media sales to minorities. With 1.1 million subscribers, the Viacom systems could fetch more than $2.4 billion, according to a source.