As FCC continued to weigh AOL’s pending purchase of Time Warner (...
As FCC continued to weigh AOL’s pending purchase of Time Warner (TW) Wed., consumer groups and smaller ISPs pressed Commission to impose instant messaging (IM) service interoperability and tighter cable open access conditions on merged company. Moves came as…
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one-year anniversary of AOL-TW deal announcement passed without expected merger approval by Commission, which has been grappling with possible additional conditions since FTC okayed deal Dec. 14. While Republican Comrs. Powell and Furchtgott-Roth reportedly have voted to approve merger without additional conditions, outgoing Chmn. Kennard and Democrat Comrs. Ness and Tristani still were trying to craft compromise on IM issue that would set some requirements. In ex parte presentations earlier this week, Consumers Union and Media Access Project urged agency staffers to back interoperability standards for IM services. They argued that reported Cable Bureau staff proposal to force AOL-TW to open its high-speed cable lines to 2nd, unaffiliated IM service was “of limited utility.” On open access issue, consumer groups called on FCC to mandate that AOL-TW provide access to smaller local and regional ISPs as well as such larger national ones as EarthLink. They said proposed requirement would advance “Commission’s public interest objectives of diversity and localism.” Group of smaller ISPs submitted proposed merger condition to FCC Tues. that would require AOL-TW to “enter into a contract with at least one local and one regional ISP in each franchise area in which cable modem service is made available.” ISP group also called on Commission to make AOL-TW open its cable lines to business-oriented services provided by independent ISPs.