I know the AOL/Time Warner deal broke yesterday. I watched it live yesterday morning. Then, just now watching Fox News, where about all they are reporting is the 'big deal', and heard 'Ray of Light' instrumental. I thought 'that is odd'. Never heard that track on Fox. Got up out of my comfortable recliner and picked up Madonna's CD case. Well, whaddya know. Produced by Time Warner. This is not Y2K related. But, food for thought if you know what I mean. Think about it!

-- Kyle (fordtbonly@aol.com), January 11, 2000

Answers

In the realm of reconstructing reality, this will be a big deal.

-- Normally (Oxsys@aol.com), January 11, 2000.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/eo/20000110/en/20000110102.html

Link

Monday January 10 04:39 PM EST

Time Warner Tells AOL "I Do"

We can see the tie-in potential now. Buffy boots up her computer, clicks her mouse and watches the AOL logo light up the monitor. Bugs Bunny starts doing the "You've got mail" voice. Download a Sopranos patch to "fix" your Netscape software.

Yes, the possibilities are many now that new media monster America Online has announced it's snapping up old media monster Time Warner--the company behind HBO, Warner Bros., CNN and Sports Illustrated--for about $166 billion. That whopper of a price tag makes it the biggest corporate merger ever.

The acquisition, announced today, marries the largest entertainment company in the world with the biggest name in new media.

"This really is an historic moment," America Online's chairman and chief executive, Steve Case, told a news conference. "This merger will launch the next Internet revolution."

Pending approval by the feds (most analysts say its a formality), the newly minted AOL Time Warner will encompass CompuServe, Netscape, ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, AOL MovieFone, HBO, Cinemax, CNN, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, Digital City, Warner Bros. movie and TV studios, the WB network, Warner Music Group, magazines like Fortune, Sports Illustrated, People and Entertainment Weekly and the Looney Tunes characters.

And we can certainly expect a lot from the new company. AOL Time Warner Inc.'s menu of movies, music and magazines will have the capability of reaching some 20 million AOL subscribers, meaning AOL members may soon be able to access InStyle magazine while listening to clips from the new Madonna album.

The deal gives AOL access to Time Warner's cable network system--what many see as the key to future high-speed Internet delivery.

"This really completes the digital transformation of Time Warner," Time Warner Chairman Gerald M. Levin told analysts in a conference call. "These two companies are a natural fit."

Case will become chairman of the new company with Levin as the CEO. Time Warner Vice Chairman Ted Turner, who will retain the title in the new company, says he backs the merger. The board will be half Time Warner appointees, half AOL.

The blockbuster deal comes just five months after Viacom gobble d up CBS for $35 billion.

-- Data (in@the.holodeck), January 11, 2000.

From Matt Drudge www.drudgereport.com

"You've got mail. And movies. And music. And magazines. And roller coaster rides.

"Big media is big media, whether it's old or new.

"Fewer and fewer people will continue to run it all until Orwell's vision is lived and loved."

-- Normally (Oxsys@aol.com), January 11, 2000.

A marriage of DESPARATION !!! Get it ?

-- Big Deal (Yawn@so.what), January 11, 2000.

You're paranoid wackos.

And yet, grudgingly, I have to concede that you're completely correct.

Our perceptions, and therefore our thoughts and actions, will soon be controlled by a few (co-operating) companies and individuals.

I don't think they've evil, or that it's necessarily a bad thing in terms of reducing crime, poverty blah blah. It's just that I personally find being part of a McHerd a little disturbing.

Brian: "You're all individuals!"

Herd, in unison: "We're all individuals!"

Small, lone voice: "I'm not."

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), January 11, 2000.

Press Release I received yesterday from Institute for Public Accuracy - sources for information if you'd like another view on this not-so-good-for-the-public merger... Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 12:26:30 -0800 From: "institute@igc.org" Subject: AOL-Time Warner Merger X-Sender: institute@pop2.igc.org To: institute@igc.org X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.2

Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org ___________________________________________________

Monday, January 10, 2000

AOL-Time Warner Merger

In the largest corporate merger in history, America Online and Time Warner announced a $350 billion deal today. The following analysts are available for interviews:

ROBERT McCHESNEY, rwmcches@uiuc.edu Professor at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois and author of "Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times," McChesney, who participated in a CNN discussion on the future of media with Time Warner head Gerald Levin a week ago, said today: "This deal culminates five years of frantic deal-making that have seen our media culture come to be dominated by less than 10 transnational media firms operating in largely non-competitive markets.... It hammers the last nail in the coffin of those utopians who regarded the Internet as providing the mechanism to radically change our media culture for the better. The Internet was established by massive public subsidies and now, without a shred of public debate, the system has become the plaything of a handful of billionaire investors who use their power to commercially carpet bomb every possible moment of our lives."

JILL NELSON, JillieJams@aol.com Author of "Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience" and a columnist for MSNBC, Nelson said: "This may be good for business, but it's bad for people and the free flow of information. In our lust for profits, we have forgotten democratic principles. This can only increase the public's deep skepticism of the quality of the news."

BEN H. BAGDIKIAN, benmar@uclink4.berkeley.edu Author of "The Media Monopoly" and professor emeritus and former dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California at Berkeley, Bagdikian said: "This acquisition is standard in the strategy of media corporations that no significant media company in the country will remain independent."

JEFF CHESTER, jeff@cme.org, http://www.cme.org Executive director of the Center for Media Education, Chester said: "[AOL head] Steve Case is the Benedict Arnold of the digital age. Now that he has bought himself a piece of broadband cable access, he is no longer advocating for public policy to ensure open access to the Internet."

FRANK BEACHAM, frank@beacham.com, http://www.beacham.com A writer specializing in technology criticism, Beacham said: "AOL has focused on making the Internet into a shopping mall. It also has a miserable track record of keeping people's information private. In the hands of Time Warner, that could be more dangerous. This merger demonstrates the failure of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to provide competition.... AOL was concerned that it didn't have access to broadband cable lines; now they have bought that access."

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

-- Sheri (wncy2k@nccn.net), January 11, 2000.