@Home, Road Runner Talks Unclear
By Randy Whitestone and Louis Trager, Inter@ctive Week 2/16/98
Yes, there have been talks about some kind of an alliance between @Home Network Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s Road Runner, and yes, executives in each camp want a deal, but officials at the high-speed cable access services weren't commenting.
While sources inside both companies acknowledged the talks, (Jerald Levln, chairman and chief executive officer of Time Warner, said: "I'm not sure what @Home offers."
Achieving any agreement would be a process fraught with roadblocks built upon conflicting corporate agendas, not the least of which is ensuring approval of @Home's top shareholder - cable giant
Telecommunications Inc. - and deciding which content would be carried on a combined Road Runner-@Home service, since Time Warner's Pathfinder Web offerings are a closely guarded corporate secret.
A spokeswoman at Road Runner, which is based in Stamford, Conn., declined to comment on merger talks, instead referring to her company's pending merger with U.S. West Inc.'s MedlaOne cable service.
"Our focus is to build this business plan with MediaOne, and we're working very hard with them to have some announcements in March," she said.
Key issues: headquarters
MediaOne is in Boston and Denver - brand name and who will lead the combined entity, which will have about 55,000 access subscribers.
Matt Wolfrom, a spokesman at @Home in Redwood City, Calif., also would not comment on any talks but said @Home is "regularly exploring opportunities to enhance the future of the company and use our position as an industry leader in setting standards"
@Home has 50,000 cable access subscribers. |
