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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ed Forrest who wrote (25556)	7/13/1999 12:45:00 AM
From: HECTOR RUBERT	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41369

GOOD NEWS FOR AOL!!!!!(NASDAQ:ATHM) Quote.Com news item #10719808 ================================================================ * COUNTY IN FLORIDA WILL VOTE ON OPEN ACCESS ISSUE FOR CABLE [Dow Jones Online News, 560 words] By Mark Wigfield, Staff Reporter WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Another municipality will step into the digital debate that the Federal Communications Commission has chosen, for now, to sit out. The commissioners who run Broward County, Florida, which has a population of 1.5 million, are scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would require cable companies offering high-speed Internet service to provide equal access to all Internet service providers, or ISPs. In a blow to AT&T Corp. last month, a federal judge in Oregon upheld the right of cable regulators in Portland and the surrounding Multnomah County to condition their approval of AT&T's $55 billion purchase of cable-TV giant Tele-Communications Inc. on opening up access to TCI pipes. AT&T fought off efforts to impose such a condition on a national level during a review by the FCC because AT&T said such a condition would have been a deal-breaker. AT&T has since appealed the ruling. The FCC refrained from making that mandate when it approved the merger in February. However, a coalition led by America Online Inc. (AOL) asked the FCC to step in, protesting that AT&T's plans to require customers to buy TCI's At Home Internet Service (ATHM) and pay extra for AOL and other providers would stifle competition on the Internet. While it promised to monitor the situation, the FCC said regulating Internet access would be premature. While FCC Chairman William Kennard criticized Portland, AT&T's plan to merge with cable provider MediaOne Group Inc. (UMG) could raise the issue again at the FCC level. Now, observers are watching closely to see how the seven-member Broward commission votes as a sign of how the struggle over high-speed Internet pipelines, so crucial for electronic commerce, will play out. In Broward, some 30 miles north of Miami, commission chair Ilene Lieberman decided not to wait for AT&T's merger with MediaOne to act. Lieberman introduced an ordinance requiring open access - an ordinance the divided council tabled pending the Portland decision. Since then, there has been "a totally unprecedented lobbying campaign in this community," by AT&T and Comcast Corp. (CMSCA) against the ordinance says attorney Alan Becker, a consultant retained by GTE Corp. (GTE) to support the ordinance. GTE and other allied ISP's haven't sat idly by either. Indeed, GTE has promised to help defend Broward if the ordinance passes and it is challenged in court by AT&T. The arguments on both sides are, by now, familiar. AT&T says open access would be technically difficult, if not impossible, and would jeopardize returns on its huge investment into cable. The company says access is an issue to be negotiated between companies, not mandated by government. GTE, which operates the fourth-largest Internet "backbone" in the country, says AT&T is bent on rebuilding its former monopoly and will control access to the Internet unless stopped. Becker is reasonably optimistic that the one swing vote on the Broward County Commission, commissioner Norman Abramowitz, will swing with open access. The cable franchise transfer between AT&T and TCI in Portland, and in many other cities around the country, is necessary in order for the two companies to offer cable-modem service in those cities. Being able to offer cable, voice, data, video and Internet service through a high-speed modem is at the core of the acquisition. -Mark Wigfield; 202-828-3397; mark.wigfield@dowjones.com Copyright (c) 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. BEST REGARDS, HECTOR JOHN