Wednesday, March 01, 2000
AOL, Time Warner promise open access to Net via cable
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — America Online Inc. and Time Warner Inc. moved to boost competition on the Internet on Tuesday, but still faced heavy skepticism from senators on the benefits of their planned megamerger.
Hours before their executives appeared before a Senate hearing, the companies pledged to open up their cable TV lines to other Internet service providers, giving consumers a choice of providers for the next generation of superfast Web connections.
Still, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wondered whether the $133 billion merger would allow AOL Time Warner to unfairly dominate the Internet and media worlds.
AOL's purchase of Time Warner, announced Jan. 10, would combine the biggest Internet access company, with more than 20 million subscribers, and the biggest media conglomerate, home to Time magazine, Warner Bros. studios, HBO and CNN.
AOL Chairman Steve Case and Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin told lawmakers the new company would respect privacy and preserve journalistic independence.
A key issue is “open access,” whether the company will sell access to its high-speed Internet pipeline to rivals. Before its Time Warner deal, AOL had been a strong advocate of a government mandate to force cable TV companies to offer open access, but it has since backed off.
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