Isps Press Regulators On Aol-tw

Consumer groups and small Internet service providers are making a last-ditch effort to get the FCC to draft tough rules that would force the merged AOL Time Warner to open its high-speed cable lines to ISPs unaffiliated with the company.

The groups want the FCC to enact tougher ISP-access restrictions on the merged entity than those required by the consent decree struck between the companies and the Federal Trade Commission.

Under its agreement with the FTC, the combined company must offer at least three Internet providers, in addition to America Online, within three months of offering service in a market. To help fulfill that condition, Time Warner forged a deal last year to carry AOL's chief rival, EarthLink (HR 11/21).

According to documents filed Tuesday with the FCC by consumer watchdogs the Media Access Project and the Consumers Union and three regional ISP groups, the commission should require AOL Time Warner to include a local or regional ISP among the unaffiliated Internet companies that gain access to AOL-TW lines.

"This condition would add specificity to the FTC's consent condition of the AOL/Time Warner merger for three unaffiliated ISPs," wrote Stephen Hines, marketing director at the ISP NorthNet, on behalf of the Wisconsin, Florida and Texas ISP associations. "It would also … codify the FCC's ongoing concerns about marketplace diversity."

The groups want the FCC to define a local ISP as one that has subscribers within Time Warner's individual cable franchise areas and a majority of its customers within a franchise's metro area. A local or regional ISP must have a majority of its customers located within no more than three metro areas contiguous with the metropolitan area in which the Time Warner franchise is headquartered.

While the FCC is expected to give final approval to the $110 billion merger, it has struggled to reach a consensus on the final details, sources close to the deal said.

Commission staff has recommended that AOL be required to make its system work with at least one other Internet provider when it adds advanced features like video streaming or to agree to allow customers of rival services to communicate with AOL's service.

An FCC decision on the merger comes as it has scheduled a vote for Thursday on a host of new digital television rules, including a regulation that could require TV sets to include tuners for digital and analog signals.

The commission also has scheduled a vote on digital must-carry regulations, but it appears unlikely to approve a rule requiring cable systems to carry broadcasters' digital TV channels. While the FCC appears unprepared to approve a broad must-carry rule, it might approve a Florida broadcaster's must-carry request for a digital-only station.