Frank, sorry to be responding to old posts, but I have been away as well and am attempting to read every one. I was in the woods with no phone, TV, electricity, etc for a week. The central theme a few days ago was how feasible it will be for ISPs to gain access to the cable pipe. You responded to Greg's post re: ATHM conference call which Medin, et. al., stated how technologically impractical it is for other ISPs to share ATHM network with the following:
<<<To do it right, the engineers would have to go back to the drawing boards on this one. The MSOs never seriously considered this to be a possibility, and if they did consider it at one time, then they certainly put in enough inhibitors to avoid having to deal with it for a while.>>>
I have to disagree with you and side with Greg on this one. I think ATHM is throwing up a smoke screen. The very fact that today any ATHM user with an extra $9.95/month can have full access to AOL's "content" thru their bring your own access plan proves that the technology is in place today. That also argues against how difficult it will be to negotiate price sharing between the MSOs and the ISP, since we already have sort of a "precedence" pricing (e.g., what AOL, et. al., are willing to accept for compensation) for their content.
Well, only 375 more posts to go!!
Mike |
