Seth Schiesel suggests AOL and AT&T might makea deal regarding AT&T'S cable/Internet services

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

In this story NYT, Seth Schiesel suggests AOL and AT&T might make
a deal regarding AT&T'S cable/Internet services.  One wonders
what the terms of such a deal might be like, or if AOL would
shift its position on non-discriminatory access to the
AT&T/cable/Internet platform.  If there is a deal, it would not
the first time AOL has sought an accommodation with an
influential rival, or simply looked out for number one.  

AOL's decision to use Microsoft's Explorer browser, in return for
placement on the Windows desktop, was one of the factors that
helped bury Netscape - a firm that it later bought.  AOL's
decision to buy Netscape embarrassed the Department of Justice,
in the middle of its antitrust case against Microsoft.  When AOL
wanted to buy Netscape, it told open source advocates it was
solidly behind the Mozilla project, but after the sale went
through AOL's support declined.  When AOL bought Compuserve, it
pleaded that it needed to make the acquisition to fight off the
Microsoft Network, and then it sold so many backbone assets to
the merging partners of MCI/Worldcom that antitrust authorizes
had to order the divesture of MCI's Internet assets in order to
prevent MCI/Worldcom from controlling 2/3 of the Internet
backbone.

This is a link to Seth Schiesel's story:


http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/09access.html

August 9, 1999



AT&T-AOL Deal Would Rain on Excite@Home's Parade

By SETH SCHIESEL

     s AT&T Corp., the nation's biggest telephone company, has
marched into the cable television business, it has found itself
locked in a battle of legal briefs, lobbying salvos and public
relations campaigns against America Online Inc. 

The fight over "open access" to AT&T's cable systems has raged in
local communities from Broward County, Fla., to Portland, Ore.,
and America Online, the nation's largest gateway to cyberspace,
has consistently argued that AT&T must let Internet carriers link
directly to AT&T's cable systems. Such connections would bypass
communications systems and Web services developed by Excite@Home,
an Internet-over-cable company that is backed by many big cable
television players -- including AT&T. 

All along this battlefront, AT&T has taken an adamant stance:
Because it is investing billions to upgrade its cable networks to
carry Internet data, AT&T has argued that it should have
exclusive right to determine how those systems are used for
Internet access. 
But behind the scenes, a side deal may now be in the works -- one
that could eventually undermine Excite@Home's business model.
According to executives close to the companies, AT&T and America
Online are considering an arrangement that would diminish the
role of Excite@Home by giving America Online and perhaps other
Internet providers enhanced access to AT&T's systems. Such a deal
could be more than politically expedient; it would enable AT&T
and America Online each to tap the technical and marketing
strengths of the other. 
AT&T and America Online declined to comment. 
   [snip]


-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org