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To: Ted Schnur who wrote (9309)	5/8/1999 9:29:00 PM
From: E. Davies	Respond to of 29970

In the "premium channel" approach (ex. HBO), the primary revenue source is from subscriber fees, not advertising. Every premium channel I remember on TV has commercials too. If subscribers had access to ATHM, AOL, and the open Internet (not using either home page), there would be no way to count those "eye balls" without some sort of user monitoring I dont think you have ever seen how AOL handles access in a "bring your own ISP" situation. To access AOL you need special AOL software that brings you into an AOL only world where you get bombarded with AOL advertising. Its not well known that buried in the software is a way to turn off the advertising. From that AOL only world you can go back out into the web with an AOL browser. AOL hopes that that is the only way AOL users will know how to access the web, and many currently are that unsophisticated. Eric

To: Ted Schnur who wrote (9309)	5/8/1999 9:37:00 PM
From: RTev	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 29970

If subscribers had access to ATHM, AOL, and the open Internet (not using either home page), there would be no way to count those "eye balls" without some sort of user monitoring (which wouldn't go over too well with the privacy folks). I'm not sure I understand the issue here. Does ATHM require use of proprietary software in the way AOL does? If they use standard IP client tools, then they can't really force anyone to look at a particular home page, can they? (I've seen pictures of what looks like a special browsing tool provided by @home, but I thought that was just an extra tool -- in no way necessary for email, web browsing, or any other activity.) As I understand AOL's objective, it is to get a place on the cable that allows them to install their redundant "gateway" software which then allows them to force a certain user experience on their users (most of whom seem to appreciate it). They want users to be dependent on their mail servers, their chat servers, and all the other stuff that they use to pump out their ads to their users. That's a different issue than setting an easily-changed home page on the user's browser. Of course, the other issue is whether AOL's GUI can be easily adapted to the always-on world of broadband. Since the IP address is assigned at boot-up, their users might start using standard tools and ignoring the AOL ad-supported interface. AOL would no longer have control of the log-in process as they do now with their proprietary dialer. [Hmm... I see E.Davis beat me to the issue... but it's worth stating twice, I guess.]

To: Ted Schnur who wrote (9309)	5/11/1999 2:58:00 AM
From: Ted Schnur	Respond to of 29970

"Consensus projections are that there will be 4 to 5 million cable modems installed by 2002. The modestly bullish forecast for AOL by then is 25 million subscribers. But obviously cable service won't claim 4 to 5 million of them. @Home Network (Nasdaq: ATHM) says that 66 percent of its users are former AOL subscribers. The impact of competition from DSL, which has yet to begin major rollout to consumers, is still unknown. So today it appears that AOL could lose no more than five to ten percent of the subscriber count projected for 2002 -- if AOL gains no entrée to cable by then." herring.com