Thanks for that roll-up Mike. Some good packaging of diverse events which seem to further suggest an old vision that the 'net will be assimilated in many ways by what was considered at one time as the tv idiom. With this kind of scale and the synergy that this merger suggests I'm sure that we'll see a downward pricing trend for that coveted last-mile fat-pipe at some point, as I infer one of your points to be.
The greatest ally that this new entity has doesn't have a stock symbol associated with it. Instead, it's consumer interest and loyalty to the proven medium of today's tv and its heirs that audiences, as they evolve into interactive participants, will willingly move with. Albeit at a glacial pace, at first, despite the "tectonic shift" characterizations which have been stated about them "down the road," but the machine has been put in motion.
AHhaha's reminder to me in the ATHM thread last night about how long these things will take to unfold was a sobering note that I needed to read, lest I, too, get too wrapped up in the hype component of this event, of which there is a great amount. But it is powerful stuff, nonetheless.
Non-entertainment-allied 'net competitors for residential eyeballs will be hard pressed to compete with this new combination where their (now AOL's) fat pipes prevail. Which will force the debates going forward to other areas of contention where wannabes will cry "foul!" if they don't have similar advantages which they will claim as their entitlements, from their current focus on Open Access for Third Party ISPs to other iterations of "open x,y,z." Perhaps I should start with a,b,c, instead of x,y,z leaving enough room for growth.
BTW, how did you like Case's sudden revelation and ensuing statements yesterday concerning his new approach to a competition driven marketplace as opposed to one that would be carved up through regulation? Eh? The guy has chutzpah, no?
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
