AOL Time Warner deal:

[LonghornXP]

Well for those of you that would like to know here goes. To start current AOL dialup customers who switch to Road Runner will get free AOL as part of their Road Runner subscription. Also when this change is put into place very soon current Road Runner customers will get AOL for broadband free of charge. You won't have to use it but you can and you will create a new username and password for AOL but you need to sign into the software with your road runner user name and password to create the new AOL screen name and password to get it free but after that you will have a new AOL screen name. This system won't replace road runner like getting AOL for broadband with Time Warner did where to even use the internet you had to sign into the AOL software. This system will work much like MSN Premium with Verizon DSL. To use the DSL service you don't need to sign into the MSN software but you could use the MSN software if you wanted. Also just like the AOL system you had to use your Verizon email address to actually be allowed to create the MSN Premium account.

But the bottom line is if you currently have Road Runner you will seen be give the option to create a free AOL for broadband account if you so please. Also I've been told that Earthlink cable customers will not I repeat will not get free AOL as Earthlink will not allow it. So it looks like Road Runner customers only current and new.

 

[JamesJ]

hey longhorn, any idea when this takes effect,or anywhere I can go for more info when I need it, I am a road runner customer, adn this is nice to know as I would like to use some aol features.

 

[thiggin2]

Here is what I found:

Published - Jan 31 2005 04:57PM EST || AP
NEW YORK(AP) Time Warner Inc.'s cable unit plans to start offering America Online accounts to its Internet subscribers for no extra charge, in a move intended to boost both Time Warner Cable's Internet business and AOL's advertising sales.

The new agreement suggests that, four years after AOL and Time Warner merged, the company finally is overcoming some of the cultural divisions that has plagued it. Time Warner Cable used to regard AOL as competition to its own Internet service, called Road Runner.

Time Warner Cable has been facing increasing competition from telephone companies offering less expensive high-speed Internet service using technology known as digital subscriber line, or DSL. In the past year, the growth rate of Time Warner Cable's sales has dropped by about half.

For its part, AOL has been losing subscribers the last few years as customers have been moving away from dial-up access, though some have elected to pay $14.95 a month to keep their AOL accounts for use with broadband service.

Starting this week in Raleigh, N.C., the two Time Warner units now will offer AOL customers a chance to move to Time Warner Cable while keeping their AOL accounts, without paying an additional fee.

Time Warner Cable will continue offering Road Runner to existing customers, while offering AOL to new customers. AOL will promote Time Warner Cable to its subscribers.

Under the new agreement, AOL will sell ads on the Road Runner service, which has nearly four million subscribers, and share the advertising revenue with Time Warner Cable. At the same time, Time Warner Cable will give AOL some of the subscription revenue it receives for the high-speed Internet service.

AOL's agreement with Time Warner Cable follows another big change by the online giant. AOL has lately begun offering some of its features free, breaking with its tradition of restricting access to its service to paying subscribers.

AOL hopes the change will increase its audience and then sell the audience to advertisers.