A second act at AOL?
Time Warner Cable finally decided to offer America Online accounts to its high-speed Internet customers for free. Here's why that's a promising harbinger.
Wall Street Journal:Time-Warner cable adds AOL
Time Warner Cable finally decided to offer free America Online accounts to its high-speed Internet customers. Considering the resemblance of the company's sprawling fiefdoms to the Byzantine Empire, the announcement is no inconsiderable achievement. From the outside looking in, it's yet another indication that management's no longer clueless about how to exploit its strengths.
For millions of former AOL investors who got burned by the mega-merger, this is too little, too late. The cynics will want to know why these Einsteins took four years before the lightbulb went off over their heads. Good question as far as that goes, but ultimately irrelevant. Besides, America loves second acts. Obviously, a lot of balls need to still fall into place but who's to say that some of the promise of this ballyhooed deal can't be realized?