Comment This is a good thing (Score 5) 597
It seems to me this merger is a profound validation of the very things slashdot readers value.
Remember AOL bought Time/Warner, not the other way around. That means AOL's internet presence is more valuable than the sum of all the many properties that make up Time/Warner Bros./CNN/HBO et. al.
Time/Warner doesn't need distribution, it already owns cable properties. It has gobs of content to put on those cable lines, nonetheless, it agreed to be purchased by a company with revenues only a third as large as itself!
This changes the valuation of everything, all internet companies are more valuable immediately, the future really is the internet, not magazines, television, cd's, movies, or any of the old media.
And That is a Good Thing (tm) because it is us who will create that future - we have very little access to older media forms, we don't own magazines, movie studios, record labels, television channels, etc. - but we are creating their replacements, and this merger shows that what we are creating is more valuable than what currently exists.
Ultimately what happened here is Time/Warner, the largest, most powerful, media company in the world agreed to be bought by an internet startup, in order to get better access to the internet, (read: to the future.) For without that access, that presence, they realized they would not be players in that future.
In terms of monopoly fears, Case and Levin announced that they would be supporting open access to their cable lines for isp competition, as soon as the exclusive contract with @home/excite ends next year, so we will be able to pick our isp over our cable modem, it need not be AOL/Time. Furthermore, Time/Warner is not the only source of content in the world, not even a third of it, this means the other content providers will be looking to partner with internet companies quickly, for fear of being left out.
We have created the future, in places like slashdot - AOL is nothing without it's subscribers, creating a dynamic little world - much like slashdot, albiet in a narrower way. I am looking forward to it, the reigns of power are in our hands now.
Alekzandr
Remember AOL bought Time/Warner, not the other way around. That means AOL's internet presence is more valuable than the sum of all the many properties that make up Time/Warner Bros./CNN/HBO et. al.
Time/Warner doesn't need distribution, it already owns cable properties. It has gobs of content to put on those cable lines, nonetheless, it agreed to be purchased by a company with revenues only a third as large as itself!
This changes the valuation of everything, all internet companies are more valuable immediately, the future really is the internet, not magazines, television, cd's, movies, or any of the old media.
And That is a Good Thing (tm) because it is us who will create that future - we have very little access to older media forms, we don't own magazines, movie studios, record labels, television channels, etc. - but we are creating their replacements, and this merger shows that what we are creating is more valuable than what currently exists.
Ultimately what happened here is Time/Warner, the largest, most powerful, media company in the world agreed to be bought by an internet startup, in order to get better access to the internet, (read: to the future.) For without that access, that presence, they realized they would not be players in that future.
In terms of monopoly fears, Case and Levin announced that they would be supporting open access to their cable lines for isp competition, as soon as the exclusive contract with @home/excite ends next year, so we will be able to pick our isp over our cable modem, it need not be AOL/Time. Furthermore, Time/Warner is not the only source of content in the world, not even a third of it, this means the other content providers will be looking to partner with internet companies quickly, for fear of being left out.
We have created the future, in places like slashdot - AOL is nothing without it's subscribers, creating a dynamic little world - much like slashdot, albiet in a narrower way. I am looking forward to it, the reigns of power are in our hands now.
Alekzandr
