KB:
<RR didn't exist in the early '90s>
Although RR didn't exist, per se, in the early 90s, to many it was clear that cable was "the answer", although the question wasn't quite developed. Orlando was a disaster for TWX financially but it showed cable's potential to develer "stuff". At the time, the Internet didn't exist on a commercial level; at least not to the masses. Not enough content could be developed privately to satisfy TWX's big pipes.
The promise of 500 channels was all the rage and John Malone and others promised to transform the industry. I bought Malone's rap and when the Internet was "born" it became clear, to some, that cables fat pipes were the best medium for the Internet. Orlando had proven that; it's just that in Orlando TWX tried to produce all of its own content; obviously that problem didn't exist with the Internet.
Combine the undervalued cable with TWX's other assets (music (#1 at the time), Time, WB studio, etc.) and, imo, it was an easy winner. It took longer than I thought, but I was correct. TWX was taken over for its fat pipes. Fwiw, I think that ATHM will succeed as well.
So, did RR exist in the early 90s? No, but its predecessor did and, at the time, cable was very cheap because it was a black sheep because of gov't regulation. The fact that you didn't have the forsight to see cable's potential is irrelevant.
The real question that should be important to ATHM shareholders is how does ATHM exploit its position to the greatest extent. Imo, it wouldn't hurt ATHM to, de facto, preclude any approach that AOL took simply to be different than AOL. |
