TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: AOL Makes it Official; Now it's Mostly Free and Ad Supported

Re: AOL Makes it Official; Now it's Mostly Free and Ad Supported

Henry Cabot Henhouse III (sooper_chicken@hotmail.com)
Thu, 3 Aug 2006 11:27:00 -0700

Great. .. now the perves and pedos will find it easier to get online to prey
on the youngsters ...

Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> wrote in message
news:telecom25.284.1@telecom-digest.org...

> AOL Shifts to Free Web Services

> Time Warner Inc. on Wednesday said its AOL unit will no longer charge
> high-speed Internet users for e-mail and other Web services in a
> gambit to attract more viewers and boost online advertising.

> AOL, the online division of the world's biggest media company, is
> undertaking its fourth overhaul in five years as it competes with Web
> search and advertising leaders Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

> Shares in Time Warner rose 2 percent.

> The largest U.S. provider of Internet access has steadily lost
> subscribers to high-speed services offered by cable operators and phone
> companies, and hopes to counter that trend by tapping a burgeoning
> online ad market.

> The AOL transition is set to be completed in early September. High-speed
> subscribers who have paid about $15 per month to use AOL's Web services
> will now get them for free.

> The free services will include e-mail, instant messaging, a local
> phone number with unlimited incoming calls as well as safety and
> security features.

> AOL aims to hold on to individuals who are considering moving to other
> Internet access services but want to keep their AOL e-mail accounts
> and other features, the company said.

> "This is the next logical step for AOL to capitalize further on the
> explosive rise in broadband usage and online advertising," said Time
> Warner President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Bewkes.

> AOL's future is key to Time Warner, whose stock hit a two-year low in
> July and faces investor pressure to extract more value out of the
> Internet division.

> On Wednesday, Time Warner also posted a second-quarter profit versus a
> year-ago loss on more digital phone and high-speed data customers and
> strong growth in online advertising.

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