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To: gpowell who wrote (11473)	6/19/1999 1:11:00 AM
From: sillen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

I think that T/ATHM is just trying to protect their investment. And somehow I don't think it might take as long as people think (Moore's Law). They too know that in the long run there will be open access..no more..no less. But right now the FCC's opinion is based upon the fact that there are multiple ways to provide broadband access to the consumer. There might not be a competitive environment within the cable broadband access market itself, but that is not what the regulators are looking at today. I do think there should be imposed deadlines and quotas that needs to be met for consumer broadband cable access to expand in a fashionable way. Also if you read ATHM's annual report there are various services that are currently not included in ATHM's agreement with the cable cos such as Internet telephony, Internet videoconferencing and various multimedia contents. Short term ATHM will be monopoly of Internet content for broadband cable access...long term as new technologies develop and markets open a competitive environment is the only possible outcome. In 5 years, if the industry just could agree upon a standard, the Internet will be one large database (XML) where content will be key. Later Sillen

To: gpowell who wrote (11473)	6/19/1999 1:09:00 PM
From: ahhaha	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29970

No. The distinction between markets is not being emphasized. It's the crux of the legal issue. Airlines and trucking handle much of the same carriage, yet they are separate and distinct markets. The FCC is saying the two markets which they understand as one must be competitive and serving of the nascent BB market. Notice I failed to say BB marketS. It's a bad habit and it's going around.