AOL had no comment by deadline. Previously, AOL spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan had repeated the company line: "We're firmly committed to offering our members every advanced broadband technology available in the marketplace, once it becomes convenient, easy to use and affordable enough for the mass market."
AOL isn't necessarily locked out of a deal with the cable-modem services, Wallace says. "I still expect AOL to cut a deal with @Home and RoadRunner at some point," he says. But the success of AOL's DSL service, due out this fall, will affect its power on the cable front. "If AOL is successful with DSL, it may make it less of an important issue," he says. "If not ... @Home gets a leg up on the negotiating table."
Eventually, say the pundits, the Federal Communications Commission or Congress will find a way for AOL and other Internet service providers to have open access to broadband pipelines being built by AT&T and other companies. Internet service providers argued for such access as a condition of AT&T's purchase of TCI, but the FCC declined to make such a move.
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