Juno Expanding Details of AOL, Time Warner Pact
Wednesday November 29 3:07 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Internet service provider Juno Online Services Inc. (NasdaqNM:JWEB - news) is in the process of expanding the details of its open access contract with merger partners America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news), Juno Online's president said on Wednesday.
In July, Juno, the third-largest U.S. Internet service provider, struck a deal with Time Warner to have access to Time Warner's cable lines, but terms of the deal were not ironed out at that time.
``We are in the process of expanding that,'' Charles Ardai told Reuters in an interview. Ardai said he has a longer draft of the deal, which outlines more specific details, ``on my desk.''
But he said it would be difficult to say when Time Warner, AOL, and Juno might finalize their deal as some ``practical and logistical'' details still have to be sorted out.
``It would be nice to get it done by the end of the year,'' he said.
A deal between AOL, the world's largest Internet services provider, Times Warner, the No. 2 U.S. cable company and Juno would help pave the way for AOL's and Time Warner's $91 billion mega merger to get U.S. regulatory clearance for their union. The merger has been delayed due to concerns by U.S. regulators.
Last week, Time Warner struck a deal with Earthlink Network Inc. (NasdaqNM:ELNK - news) to allow the No. 2 U.S. Internet service provider to offer high-speed Web services on its cable system.
``Every step for open access is good for the industry,'' Ardai said of the Earthlink deal. ``All we want is the same level-playing field.'' |
