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MS and AOL Interested in MediaOne

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the ever-expanding-empire dept.

Megaweapon writes "As a MediaOne customer (who is without cable modem access), this scares the scat out of me. First Comcast, then AT&T, now these two. " I hate MediaOne. I'm moving (all next week, so be gentle on the email!) and the 23 best things about moving are 1. No rats 2. No leaky ceiling 3. No more MediaOne- I'll actually be able to get a few channels I want. Oh well, watch the amazing expanding empire.

2 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. AOL Changing Tune? by Aaron+M.+Renn · · Score: 3

    When AT&T bought TCI, AOL claimed that AT&T should have to open up TCI's cable to all ISP's who wanted to provide access. Think AOL will be making the same argument if they are able to buy MediaOne? Not! It would be funny to watch them do a 180 though.

  2. What we have is carefully crafted noncompetition by Sleepy · · Score: 3

    I'm not a fan of regulation, but I think even less of POOR regulation.

    The reality is we have a few cable companies who DO NOT COMPETE with each other. Instead, they sit tight on their asses and continually charge just a little more than the national average in an always upward cycle.

    Why aren't these titans competing with each other? Because we don't raise awareness locally, that Town/City Hall is sometimes BY CHOICE granting "exclusivity" to the local franchise, usually over expensive dinner paid for by same company. Why risk a good thing by trying to "invade" someone else's turf.

    I could care less if we had just 3 or 4 cable companies, as long as they were coast to coast and I could choose between them all, like I do with long distance carriers. How can ANYONE - besides the cable companies - actually LIKE the way things are today? If you hate all forms or regulation, there's enough red tape to irrate you... BUT, if you favor regulation to protect the consumer, what we have is not enough since it's obvious the prices of cable rise FASTER than inflation or in other words they are sticking it to us.

    I'd just like to see the whole thing go away. We HAVE the Internet - give me an international video file server that streams TV quality video faster than I can download it... and the American-style cable companies can go to hell. Why can't someone just step in and serve the pent-up demand.. or is Hollywood going to say it's none of their business until we're all downloading their latest products, free, on Internet Relay Chat??

    Feh... can anyone think of an industry where everyone to a greater extend hates all available choices? I'm glad it's Friday.