Internet media pioneer Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) said it struck a deal with SBC Communications Inc. (SBC), the No. 2 U.S. local phone company, to supply high-speed Internet access to customers.

The deal marks Yahoo's biggest step so far to go beyond its roots in the "narrowband," text-dominated media into so-called broadband media, where high-speed phone lines are best-suited for delivering music and movies via the Internet.

The two companies agreed to a plan to offer high-speed Internet access over SBC phone lines to customers across SBC's 13-state local service region, beginning in the middle of 2002, the companies said in a statement.

"This alliance enables Yahoo and SBC to create deeper relationships with millions of broadband and dial-up subscribers, and provides the 30 million Yahoo users in SBC's region with a unique, integrated access and premium service offering on a subscription basis," Yahoo Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel said in a statement.

The alliance marks a key step toward answering concerns of many analysts and investors that Yahoo lacks a distribution strategy for the wealth of Web programming it owns.

This content has helped propel it to become the world's No. 3 Internet media network, behind rivals AOL Time Warner (AOL) and Microsoft (MSFT) with its MSN network. But while rivals such as AOL, Microsoft and Excite@Home have made heavy investments in gaining access to high-speed distribution links via phone or cable television lines, Yahoo had remained focused on its stable of Web media programming.

In a separate action that signals Silicon Valley-based Yahoo's growing ties to Hollywood, Yahoo said it had expanded its board of directors and named Gary Wilson and Ronald Burkle, two top Southern California business leaders.

Shares of Yahoo were buoyed by the news, gaining 6 percent in morning trading on Nasdaq, to $14.83. While still far below its high of $60 earlier this year, the stock is up 14 percent so far this week as anticipation builds ahead of the annual analysts' meeting set for Thursday.