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To: Peter Y. Hsing who wrote (12478)	7/15/1999 8:57:00 PM
From: E. Davies	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Absolutely right. The FCC is not manned by total idiots. The more I study this "open" access issue the more I realize that there is nothing of substance here. My only unknown is how long it will take for the market to realize it. 1) Every major legislative & regulatory body that looks at the issue sees clearly that cable is not ready for open access. They want cable to succeed to provide competition to the telephone monopolies. a) The FCC has made it clear they don't want to regulate cable yet. b) The Canadian CRTC appears to only be preparing regulation for the day when it is technically feasible. c) The US congress appears to have no interest in bills put forward to regulate cable d) The California state legislature has also passed on considering bills to regulate cable. 2) The local governing bodies have in huge majority accepted AT&T without cable regulation. The exceptions are: a) Portland who has simply chosen to not have cable internet if it is not regulated. They will get exactly what they chose. No cable internet. b) The unincorporated areas of Broward County. Oohh, I'm worried. I'm not clear whether they have made the same choice as portland (no unregulated cable internet) or if they are choosing no MediaOne (not @home BTW) if they dont get regulated cable. Either way, its their loss. c) SanFrancisco is not considering mandating open access as I read it. They are considering a policy statement that says they will do open access if it is declared legal elsewhere and will offer supporting arguments to the portland court. No big deal. 3) Open access when it does arrive (I do think it will someday) if done properly will be a benefit to @home. Just think-- @home will be able to access every home passed by cable in North America! They will also probably make a good business providing the cable interface to lots of smaller ISP's. Most of all broadband as a whole would benefit. Increasing the size of the market is way more important than keeping all of it. Open access is no issue. The question is how long before the market grasps the concept? Eric

To: Peter Y. Hsing who wrote (12478)	7/15/1999 9:41:00 PM
From: GraceZ	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29970

IMHO, there is no compelling reason to open cable up at this point in time--the authorities can always pull the trigger at any time after the cable upgrade/deployment has been completed--why waste such an effective "stick" now when the mere threat may suffice? I like the way you think! Very true....why would they act now and kill whatever chance we have of real competition for local phone service. The "open net" guys are getting lots of press and local support because what they are demanding sounds like a great idea for the consumer. It's all in how you ask the question. Which sounds better. 1. Do you want to only have one choice of ISP for your cable internet service? or 2. Would you be willing to wait a few years more (and perhaps not have a service as fast current cable internet services) if it meant you could pick from a number of different services? I hate to say it out loud, but the cable guys in my area would be over-joyed if the City opted out of getting broadband upgrades. Cities are a nightmare for cable, they were forced to do them when they put in the TV lines and they took their sweet time doing them. They know that it would be years and years before they got a return. The suburbs are where the real money is for them and these are the people that would fit the demographic that everyone seems to be shooting for. These cities opting out could be a windfall for the cable companies.