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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: yihsuen who wrote (19574)	2/11/2000 11:46:00 AM
From: Ahda	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Thank youfor the story. I think this is a plus for ATHM Daily Update for February 10, 2000: FCC Rejects ISP Leased Access Washington -- The Federal Communications Commission has rejected a request that would force cable companies to lease channels to Internet-service providers under a 1984 set-aside program intended for providers of traditional video programming. FCC sources said the request -- a petition filed in June by Internet Ventures Inc. of Redondo Beach, Calif. -- has been voted on by the five commissioners, and an order announcing the decision would be released soon. The cable industry strongly opposed IVI's request, claiming that leased-access rules were never intended for ISPs. America Online Inc., a onetime champion of open access, never put its muscle behind the leased-access approach. FCC chairman William Kennard buried any remaining hope for IVI last month when he told reporters he didn't think cable leased-access rules would accommodate ISPs, even though IVI operates a Web portal, PeRKInet, which provides links to more than 100 cable and broadcast channels that stream video programming over the Internet. Kennard called IVI's petition a "square-peg, round-hole problem." The FCC's decision is expected to say that ISPs are ineligible because they do not provide video programming in a manner consistent with the definition of video programming in communications law. The law says video programming must be comparable to the programming generated by TV stations. Webcasting is not generally considered to be the qualitative equal, in terms of picture quality, of a TV station signal. FCC sources have said in recent months that ISP provision of e-mail and other Internet services also fell outside of the scope of video programming. - 2/10/00