And the news just keeps on coming:
Sunday July 18, 1999
DAILY BRIEFING
AOL-cable deal could undermine OpenNet
Amid the public wrangling over open access to cable networks, America Online is talking with AT&T and Time Warner behind the scenes about a deal, sources say. There's optimism in some quarters that AOL and AT&T will reach an agreement by fall giving AOL access to AT&T's network. Others say it may take considerably longer, but will eventually happen. “They will come to a solution that doesn't require federal legislation,” says a Wall Street source. Such a solution could leave the OpenNet Coalition, of which AOL is a founding member, out in the cold. OpenNet has mounted a noisy and thus far reasonably successful campaign aimed at getting local governments to force cable operators to open their networks to outside Internet service providers, including AOL. But if AOL negotiates a “separate peace” in the business arena, which is what AT&T has argued for all along, it would be a tacit acknowledgement that OpenNet was barking up the wrong tree.
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DirecTV and SBC working on deal
DirecTV and Baby Bell SBC Communications are in talks about expanding an existing alliance, but haven't reached an agreement, sources familiar with the situation say. Current discussions focus on SBC marketing and distributing DirecTV to single-family residences. DirecTV and SBC in March 1998 formed a marketing-distribution alliance aimed at multiple dwelling units (MDUs). They acknowledged then that they were discussing a similar partnership that would cover single-family residences. The companies may be seeking to have a signed agreement in time for the Satellite and Broadcasting and Communications Association annual convention, which started Sunday
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