So the remuneration that T gets is not from a simple contract with ATHM but much more complex. The city cannot ignore this revenue.,
In the sense you imply they have no jurisdiction.
Basically, Portland politicians are now a partner in the engineering of the station.
Talk is cheap. It is like saying any old AOL can come along and do BB if they have the big bucks. Money talks, bs walks, they say. The reality is quite a bit different from all of this. That's why brands work. People know the guys behind the brand can deliver. Brands don't work because we've been indoctrinated by having them imprinted on our foreheads. There is no conspiracy under every rock. If Portland wishes to have things just so, they will have to pay for that privilege,. but there is a way to give them what they want the way they should get it.
Suppose you buy apples from me, the wholesaler, for $0.75 each and sell them for $1.00 each. I decide to bump your wholesale price to $1.25 each. Now, tell me you will still sell apples for $1.00 each.
You been selling apples since the stock hit the skids?
Are you implying that there is inflation? That has not been decreed as an acceptable conclusion by those who know all about those things. We don't inflate here. It can't happen HERE. It doesn't happen until the experts tell you that it is happening.
Portland has swept all these issues aside with amazingly cavalier statements indicating they felt there is really nothing to discuss.
Socialism has the sympathy of the people. It is always good for you, but don't put that shit on me, they say. So you put it on Portland by taking their attitude and putting it on your side. Portland talks as though they want something. That makes them the demander. So T should supply them what they want. If they are totally uncooperative such that T can't make money there, then they will have to find another solution. Good luck. They exist but they are downstream. That's ok. If the people there are willing to wait, then other ways of delivery will be helped to evolve and that will keep T and ATHM on their best.
1. T bought ATHM. AOL wanted access to the pipe and said so in public.
AOL hasn't been so assertive. In fact, they have denied that cable is all that great.
2. Both T and AOL know that the real money is not in pumping photons through a pipe but in charging for the content going through the pipe (ad revenue, subscriptions, etc.).
Do they know that? I don't. Is that true? That's what everyone says but where's the beef? The 'Net is great at information, but information has practically zero price. Can T and ATHM charge for the content? I don't see it. They would have to create it to get the added value from it. You are saying as most are that T gets paid for what is on the telephone. Not true. What does ATHM supply that accrues added value? Ads? Etc.s? Both are proving almost a total economic disaster. How well do ads work on you through the 'Net? I rest my case. Now Etc. might be where it's at once we find out what's underneath it. Maybe the pipe is the show and subscriptions are the big cheese.
5. AOL feels that the biggest content provider with the cheapest & strongest delivery system will win.
AOL doesn't provide much added value. Neither do portholes. Why would anyone think otherwise? Who wants log on to Excite!? It's slow and awkward.
6. AOL feels it can get the government to regulate prices and, basically, turn T into a utility.
They thought they could get the FCC to do what they wanted, but it didn't work out that way. They had Nader and CU on their side too. That's raw socialism which always triumphs. AOL wouldn't benefit from government regulating price. That is so unpopular that even a tax is resisted at a rate of 97% against. That doesn't mean government won't get its steal, but they will have to pull off some pretty good shenanigans to do it.
7. AOL currently has the Portland case. In addition, the 2 senators from AOL's home state have bills to do this.
You better go home and hide under your bed.
9. T directly confronted the FCC and said “No open access. We quit (no merger) if you want open access. We need to control access and prices.
I thought you said it was government who wanted to control prices. It's bad if government does it, but good if T does?
We need a part of the ad revenue. Either the FCC is going to regulate and build this network or we are. Choose now.”
This had little to do with the FCC decision even though several commissioners stated that they were bending backwards because they recognized the desirability of having broadband. If there was a lever, it was that the advent of BB:telephony had the power to break the local RBOC monopoly. A breaking would create a uniformity in communications and vastly simplify the ridiculous structure of fairness compensation that exists in spite of its being a prima facie violation of the '96 Act. You are reading the media's macho version of history explanation.
10. The FCC gave a fuzzy green light to T.
True.
11. T figures the AOL deal is dead and it needs to get cash flow for ATHM. So T buys Excite to get positive cash flow,build ad revenue, develop a dial up base, etc.
Oh no. not back to this myth. T needs to get cash flow for T. ATHM is only an investment. ATHM helps the consolidated balance sheet, but doesn't do anything for its income statement. Excite!?! Excite! is a black hole of cost whose event horizon has not developed yet.
Both parties at the Portland case agree that this decision should be made by the FCC and the reason they are in court is because the FCC refuses to speak.
And wisely so. It isn't within their purview.
If the Portland case sticks, every city in the nation, at contract time, will be in charge of setting ISP rates and arbitrating (thus designing) equipment upgrades, etc.
Did you know that you can validly conclude that the moon is made of green cheese if you start with a false premise and extrapolate. Great truths are found every day in medicine by statisticians. We are smart. We look for things. |
