AOL attempts a comeback
Published: 04 May 2004 10:45 BST
The fact of the matter is that with broadband, AOL doesn't have that same control. The phone companies control it, the cable companies control it, it's their wires, it's their pipes. They're going to want to do different things. They're going to want to own the consumer relationship and the ability to package their overall services. It's not just about high speed to them.
For us, to work out a deal with our own cable system, the strategic standpoint that you had to deal with is that our cable company only covers about 20 percent of this country. Other than speed, there are really no products and services that utilised broadband capacity. Just being able to do email faster is not really exciting from a broadband standpoint. So, the first thing was to create a product; a suite of services.
As in AOL for Broadband?
Yes. And as we did that, we then figured out how to align our interests with cable. Not just Road Runner but all cable systems and DSL (digital subscriber line) providers. We have something to offer them, and they have something to offer us. It's a win-win.
Do you expect to do similar deals with other cable companies?
We expect to be doing other deals with MSOs (multiservice operators) and phone companies, yes. Once we made a decision that we didn't have to own the customer relationship, it allowed us to take an approach where we could work with everybody in a similar way.
Why would any other cable company want to do a deal with AOL?
They should.
Why?
Because we're going to put content out there on their services that they're going have to buy, pay for or build somewhere else. Because the AOL brand already has value and resonates with consumers. So I think: Why wouldn't you?
And then, on the bounty side, we can help drive connections back to them. If you're in Comcast territory, and someone wants to migrate to broadband, we can arrange for them to get broadband services from Comcast. We drive customers to them, and they don't have to spend their marketing dollars.
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