Aol et al. want to bypass @home completely and just pay rent on the wires to the cable companies.
My understanding is that this is how ATHM began. In the beginning some venture capital people wanted to invest in broadband technology over cable. They hired a NASA guy to figure it out. He told them it couldn't be done. He showed how everyone broadcasting broadband information over the cable would bring the cable down to a trickle. The only solution, he said, would be to build your own backbone designed to handle broadband traffic. That would take the load of shuffling broadband traffic around the states off the main cable lines. The venture capital guys agreed, got the cable businesses to sign on, formed ATHM, put up the millions and millions, and that's how we got to where we are. In light of this, I don't see how AOL and everyone that wants to could broadcast all the broadband info they want over cable lines without bringing it to a halt.
Everyone knows this and especially AOL. They really want T to cut them a sweetheart deal, use ATHM's pipe, and basically cut ATHM out of the picture as much as they can.
T says no.
AOL says I'll go to the public and make such a stink you will have to deal with me. Who (what politician) can ignore the sound bite that says the big bad cable monopoly is trying to crush all the american businesses and keep them from open cable access.
T says go ahead. This means war.
Round 1: FCC - AOL lost. FCC says AOL should go and negotiate their own business deals with cable and not have the feds do it for them.
Round 2: Congress (this week). - It's harder for publicly elected congress to say nothing because of the screaming hype. AOL is doing everything it can to get the public going crazy. Form a posse (the group of normal businesses everywhere that just want access to the evil monopoly controlled cable). Make some great sound bites. Go on every talk show you possibly can. Be guest speaker at NPR forums, etc.
I am kind of amazed that T and the cable guys don't counter with a group of their own but I guess it is a losing battle. If you represent a monopoly you are dead before you go on a show no matter what you have to say.
If logic prevails congress will show AOL the door but who knows who has bought what politician. IMHO, politicians love to stand before the cameras and show they hate the monopolies. After the photo ops, the politicians have got all they can out of the deal. Rational politicians then look at the argument. They know it is a god awful mess so they drag it out, talk mush for months, and let it die a slow death in committee. |
