To: Rippletum who wrote (10500 ) 6/5/1999 5:14:00 PM From: Raymond Duray Respond to
Hi Rip, . What is the likelihood of a competitor being able to build out a similar Athm network? Perfectly feasible, technically speaking. AOL, ELNK and MSPG must all be looking into this now. Otherwise, they are studying seppuku techniques. Another that comes to mind is Vulcan Ventures, with our own GNET acting as portal and content provider and Allen's cableco's acting as ISP. would Athm be required under the open access to lease access to AOL over Athm's network? Owen Panner notwithstanding, ATHM is not a common carrier. And, how quickly can a competing Athm type network be built out? How much money you got? Or rather, how much money do Paul Allen, Steve Case and Bill Gates have. After all, if everyone is permitted in,... Whoa pardner, if you think that Panner's ruling is going to set a precedent, I got a bridge I'd like to sell you. Let's just see what the 9th Circuit and the Supremes have to say about this before we jump to conclusions. Not to mention the fact that it will be in the participating MSO's interest to favor Athm because at least they will share in Athm's success TTBOMK, this would apply only in the case of T/ATHM. In all other possible combinations, wouldn't it be more or less a level playing field on both sides of the fence (MSO/CableISP)? I am still trying to understand why this is such a negative for Athm. And I'm still trying to figure out why the market gave me such a bargain yesterday and what this decision has to do with the runup of DSL issues on Friday. Perhaps, la luna, eh?
