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

To: Stuart C Hall who wrote (3039)	11/2/1998 1:44:00 AM
From: OSHANL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Stuart, Are you aware that AOL bought out ICQ? I use ICQ and it was freely avail. Now there is some concern that AOL might start to charge the users some fee sooner or later. I have been a lurker and been in and out of ATHM.

To: Stuart C Hall who wrote (3039)	11/2/1998 3:39:00 AM
From: ahhaha	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29970

You would have had to read all my posts since ERM's counterpoint in #2964 to understand how ATHM is in a squeeze play. More like a double squeeze in Bridge. While T is the Declarer and TCI plays the dummy, all of ATHM's winning cards are squeezed out. The issue has always been there, but recently in order to meet the FCC filing deadline for comments about the T-TCI merger, serious charges by Telcos and ISPs have been made against the presumed anti-competitive aspects of the merger. The MSOs who own controlling interest in ATHM, and T, may sacrifice ATHM in order to enable the merger. They may have no other choice in light of the infinite wisdom of the FCC. I think I've proven that if the previous FCC interpretations of the Telcom Act will stand, the merger won't. You can't maintain the separation of telephony local and long on the fiber network. Voice messaging can be made indistinguishable from text messaging within the transfer power of cable. ATT could become a local and long communications company in violation of the FCC's ruling. The FCC's ruling which restricts RBOCs to regional access was created in order to maintain a competitive environment. The idea was to create competitors by delimiting RBOC's markets. The ruling has been a complete disaster, but the telcos are too afraid to challenge it. With ATT intending to hide telephony in broadband, the jig is up. The telcos either sue or they beg the FCC to place constraints on the T-TCI merger such that they will have access to the fiber. I guess the FCC thinks it can keep the RBOCs bottled up in the regional fiber plant. No way, Jose. That relegates ATHM to copper ISP status. You have to ask yourself, what does ATHM have besides a big pipe? Bloomberg News? The AOL hordes outnumber ATHM 100 to 1. AOL gets 9 out of 10 new subscribers in copper. If they have the big pipe and if other copper ISPS have it, tell me what does that leave ATHM with but a busted stock? I believe that ATHM is better off without the merger if the merger requires that TCI must open its wires to all comers.The details are in my recent numerous posts.