The trend has been clear for a long time, @Home is only doing what they must do to survive.
But there's a big problem if that's what ATHM plans to do: If ATHM began to emulate AOL, they would encourage more regulation of their MSO partners, and would probably hasten mandated "open access".
AOL makes its money from advertising and e-commerce because it is something other than an ISP. Whether they're called an OMRO (Online Marketing Research Operator) as Frank Coluccio suggested in #reply-10386859 and the posts surrounding it, a gatekeeper, or something else, the essence of what they do is control the user experience of the network. It's not perfect control, but it is a tight lock.
If @home began to emulate that level of control on their systems, their MSO partners would then (rightly) run into even more pressure to open the systems, since AOL-like control works only by limiting the user's choices while using the net.
Without that kind of control, however, Excite@home cannot force users to see their ads in the way AOL can because the service has very little influence on the user's internet experience. A user might choose to use a proprietary interface provided by @home, but would not be required to do so in the way an AOL user is required to use the service interface to log onto AOL.
One of AT&T's arguments against "forced access" is that the internet experience on their cable systems is open to the internet. A user of the system need never look at a page from AT&T or @home. Users can choose any browser, any email client, and any other internet tool they wish to use. AT&T seems to recognize the regulatory danger of emulating AOL.
Excite can still make plenty of money from ads, but they'll have to continue to do so in the same way Yahoo or Disney does it -- by providing the kind content and user interface that internet users as a whole will gravitate towards. |
