T/TCI/ATHM/EXCIT merger is the best alliance. This is the only alliance that commands both access and contents. On the other hand, AOL/Netscape alliance or Yahoo/Geocity alliance only commands contents, but have no control on the access. Therefore, T's alliance holds the best position to win the overal war, not just battles.
I agree on the access, and have always maintained that this is the main (perhaps only) advantage that ATHM has over other ISP/Portals. If ATHM were available in my area, I would switch in a minute. Not from AOL, but from Earthlink, which is what I use :-) There are not many arguments on broadband being the future of the internet, the question is whether T/TCI/ATHM can keep the fortress doors closed, whether they can truly offer significantly faster througput via cable over DSL and other media (realistically, not theoretically), and whether growth over the next 3-4 years will be sufficient to merit ATHM's valuation.
It says that @Home will grow like 1000% per year for the next few years. However, the magazine doesn't think the dialup modem will be be kicked out of the door so quickly. It projects in 2002, 80% users will still use dialup.
Do they mean growth in subs? At 350k currently, a 1000% growth translates to 16M in 2003, which is roughly consistent with the Forrester projection. And by then the dialup size might be 80% of, say, 90% of the US households, which might be 150M dialup subs. That is also consistent with the growth of AOL and other dialups.
PC World also compared the major ISPs, it voted AT&T's WorldNet as the number one best ISP in the market. AOL is at near the end of the list. Considering World Net will soon combine with @Home, this is encouraging.
Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I had WorldNet for about a week before I got fed up with busy signals and bad service. But I might have had bad luck.
My general impression is that broadband access, especially cable, has caught the eyes of the media. Just tremenduous publicity and favorable comentaries lately. All claiming 1999 as the year of broadband.
I would say 1999 is the year to talk about broadband. 2002 might be the year of broadband.
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