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Excite Could Go Dark On Friday
robvasquez writes: "According to this CNET article, excite @home could be pulling the plug on cable modem subscribers. What's your providers back up plan? Could milions of trolls and Nimda spreaders be taken off line?"
I think @home going dark could be a really good thing. The ensuing clamor might be enough to motivate the gubment to monopolize Internet provision and bring it to everyone for a reasonable fee. Monopolies work for water, power, and sewage (to some extent), so why not Internet access? Bridge the rich-poor gap and bring the Internet to everyone. Monopolize it and make it reliable.
From tomorrow's press release:
/PRNewswire/ -- Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM) today announced that it has agreed to sell essentially all of its broadband Internet access business assets and related services to AT&T for $307 million in cash. The company plans to file for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code today in San Francisco. The asset sale is subject to the emergence of higher offers and closing conditions, including bankruptcy court approval.
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 28
The Chapter 11 filing will enable Excite@Home to maintain operation of its high-speed cable Internet access services and other related services during the sale approval process.
"This filing is a tool to protect the value of the broadband business for the benefit of the company's financial stakeholders and will help reassure our customers that service will continue uninterrupted through the restructuring process," said Patti Hart, Excite@Home chairman and chief executive officer. "AT&T's offer reflects the value in our network, services, customer base and skilled employees."
While the bankruptcy court reviews the proposed sale and other offers that may emerge, Excite@Home has sufficient cash on hand to finance its operations, including supporting the company's post-petition trade and employee obligations, as well as its ongoing operating needs during the process.
Excite@Home retained the investment-banking firm Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin Capital to assist it in pursuing strategic alternatives and continuing with the bidding process.
About Excite@Home
Excite@Home is the leader in broadband, offering consumers residential broadband services and businesses high-speed commercial services. Excite@Home has interests in one joint venture outside of North America delivering high-speed Internet services and three joint ventures outside of North America operating localized versions of the Excite portal.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Action of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbors created by those sections. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements relating to the transaction with AT the bidding process in Chapter 11 and proceeds to creditors; the company's cash position; and the company's ability to provide the service without interruption.
Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to, obtaining court approval of motions critical to the company's operations; whether or not other parties make adequate, competitive bids; the company's ability to maintain its relationships with its cable partners and critical vendors; the company's ability to retain key employees; the company's ability to grow and maintain its subscriber base; the company's ability to otherwise manage its operations without interruption; the company's ability to comply with its covenants under its agreement with AT&T and to complete this transaction, and other risks and uncertainties described in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2001 and 8-K reports subsequently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Yeah! Throw the losers out! Cops should also pull over every African American male they see driving, because they are more likely to be committing crimes. Oh, and people who look Arabic too...after all, just about everybody who blows up buildings looks Arabic. Oh, except for those Irish lads.
Wait a minute. I look Irish. I think I've found a flaw in my logic.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
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As an @home user who has made a GNU/Linux system from scratch, writes software in C, C++, Objective-C, Java, and a number of other languages, who is currently in the process of building a PC, and who signs his messages with GPG, I will not be called a "trolls and Nimda spreaders"!
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Cutting of someone's ISP without warning is like losing phone service without warning and not being able to get the same number again once phone service is resumed. It can screw your whole life up and I feel sorry for the people I know who aren't technical enough to buy and manage their own domain.
If you are really so attached to the internet that losing your ISP screws up your life, then you really ought to reconsider your priorities. There really are much more important things in life than instant messaging and email. There's also this thing called a phone; if you don't know how to use it, then just dial "0" and the operator will probably laugh at you, but will be more than willing to help.
Perhaps cutting off all these geeks who spend their entire lives online is a good thing. Perhaps now they will actually go somewhere and do something with a real person for a change. They complain all the time about not having social skills, and they use that excuse to justify their lack of direct contact with any other human being, but never once do they consider that the lack of social skills is due to lack of practice. I hope that can now change.
Access to the internet is a privelege, not a right. It's not the end of the world if you lose connectivity for a while. You will survive.