Broadband thinking on AOL.....
From the Excite Topic:
<<AOL may join RoadRunner in broadband race
A unit of Time Warner Cable is negotiating to make America Online Inc. part of high-speed information services being provided in Akron and Canton, Ohio. The deal would be the first launch of broadband service by the nation's largest online service.
Time Warner Cable of Northeast Ohio wants to package AOL with RoadRunner, the broadband cable modem service launched in September.
The Akron-Canton system has been upgraded to provide all 300,000 Time Warner cable subscribers with RoadRunner, which is being promoted with a marketwide TV, radio and print campaign. AOL boasts 7 million narrowband subscribers worldwide.
"For now, [adding AOL] will be done on a system-by-system basis," said Sandra Colony, spokeswoman for the Excalibur Group, the 50-50 Time Inc.-Time Warner Cable joint venture behind RoadRunner. "We'd originally pursued that on a national basis, but that particular contract is local." She did not rule out an eventual corporate-level deal between AOL and RoadRunner.
RoadRunner could become available to nearly a million Time Warner Cable subscribers by the end of 1997. It is set for launch in Portland, Ore., and San Diego in the first quarter of 1997. Other Time Warner Cable candidates over the next two years include 200,000-plus-subscriber systems in Columbus, Ohio; Orlando, Fla.; and eventually a 1-million-subscriber New York system.
Time Warner Cable of Northeastern Ohio believes AOL's content complements RoadRunner's emphasis on Time Inc., Warner Bros. Studios, HBO, Time Life Books and other Time Warner assets. Other local Time Warner cable systems may come to the same conclusion. Local Time Warner Cable officials did not return phone calls, and AOL declined to comment on the negotiations.
AOL would join at least six other broadband services set to begin a full-fledged battle for distribution at the Western Cable Show in Anaheim, Calif., this week.
@Home Networks will name its first distribution affiliate outside equity partners Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc. and Tele-Communications Inc. Launched Dec. 4 on Comcast's Baltimore cable system, @Home also will name cable programmers that will create broadband content for the service.
Cablevision Systems Corp., the sixth largest cable multiple system operator, or MSO, will announce a sixth online service built initially on Cablevision's arsenal of AMC, Bravo, SportsChannel, News12 and other local and national media assets.
Jones Internet Channel, or JIC, which will name content partners this week, is in discussions with xDSL operators overseas and close to finalizing 10 to 20 domestic cable and wireless cable deals.>>
Brian |
