AOL has finally caved, writes
The Wall Street Journal--and is now considering offering its services for free to anyone with a high-speed Internet connection. That marks a big change for the
company that's become famous for bleeding subscribers. AOL Chief Jonathan Miller is said to have presented the idea to top Time Warner executives in New York last week. Under the proposal, it would
stop charging a subscription fee to those who already pay for Internet service from another provider. This would include free e-mail; many subscribers maintain their AOL accounts simply to avoid
dealing with the hassle of parting with their long-standing e-mail address. Nearly a third of AOL's customer base of 18.6 million already has high-speed access. The company expects that 8 million of
its dial-up customers would cancel their subscriptions as a result of the new offer. If the company goes through with the plan, it could be parting with as much as $2 billion in subscription revenue.
This would be offset somewhat by lower expenses, but then the company could turn its focus to growing its user base and boosting its ad revenue--which Miller and other Time Warner execs have said is
the future of the company. Thousands of jobs in marketing and customer service would likely be affected.
Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »