A coalition of Internet service companies seeking to gain equal access to high-speed cable Internet services said on Friday it added nine new members, primarily regional Internet service providers.
The Open Net Coalition, which includes America Online (AOL), MCI WorldCom (WCOM), and US West (USW), plans to lobby Congress and federal regulators to bar cable television companies from monopolizing Internet access through cable modems.
The nine new companies included Verio (VRIO) and regional Internet service providers in the Dallas, Denver, Portland, and Seattle areas.
The cable industry has vowed to resist the coalition's push for open access to high-speed cable Internet.
Cable companies have argued that they need exclusive deals with Internet service providers they own, like At Home (ATHM), in order to earn enough to pay for improvements to their networks required to allow high-speed Internet offerings.
The cable industry won two early skirmishes this month, when the Federal Communications Commission decided not to look into the access issue as part of a study of high-speed services and not to impose any open-access requirements as part of the $48 billion AT&T (T) merger with Tele-Communications Inc. (TCOMA).
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What doesn't Paul Allen own?: Vulcan Ventures, the investment organization owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, will spend US$50 million for 3 million shares of technology publisher Ziff-Davis, the companies said on Friday.
William Savoy, Vulcan's president, will take a seat on ZD's board.
Also on Friday, Ziff-Davis (ZD) said it closed Vulcan's $54 million investment for a one-third stake in ZDTV.
Allen's investments are closely watched by investors. Allen's portfolio -- which includes the likes of Liquid Audio and Marcus Cable -- are pieces of his larger plan to construct a "wired world," in which all devices and people are connected by computers and the Net.
Ziff Davis' fourth quarter earnings also came out on Friday. Net income before a one-time restructuring charge was $39.7 million, or 40 cents a share, compared to $76 million, or 73 cents a share a year ago.
