Home excitement: Promo gives AOL subscribers a taste of cable access

Members of the Excite@Home cable Internet venture are hoping to poach customers from America Online by paying to let subscribers keep their favorite AOL features - namely, e-mail addresses and buddy lists - while they try the @Home service.

It's not the first price promotion for TCI@Home or Cox@Home, the two largest partners. But it is the first to target AOL, the dial-up Internet service provider most vocal in calling for open access to cable networks.

With more than 16 million customers, AOL is the largest ISP target of opportunity for this price promotion, said Ann Ivancie, director of Internet marketing for AT&T's Broadband & Internet Services. "This program has been in the works for many months."

AOL subscribers interested in cable's high speeds can sign up for the @Home program through Cox@Home or most regional divisions of TCI@Home, now owned by AT&T. Once registered, they can switch their AOL pricing plan to AOL's $9.95 a month "Bring Your Own Access" option, which lets customers with outside Internet access use the ISP's e-mail and other services.

The TCI@Home program started July 5 and will continue through Aug. 31; the Cox@Home program began June 1 and will run through Aug. 9.

TCI's program provides customers free installation of the necessary cable equipment - normally a $150 charge - and $9.95 off their $40 monthly bill for the rest of the year. Cox@Home subscribers get $9.95 off monthly bills between $40 and $45 for three months, but installation deals will vary. Some Cox markets will charge $35 for installation, others $70, said Lyndie O'Toole, Cox@Home marketing manager for Orange County, Calif. "We're testing to see how attractive the offer needs to be," she added.

"This won't be the last promotion of this kind," said Sean Badding, an analyst with The Carmel Group. AOL's subscribers are among the most desirable because they're so loyal and spend so much in online purchases, he said. Plus, multiple systems operators (MSOs) have a way to go before they reach Internet subscriber numbers that even approach the second tier dial-up ISPs, he added.

"It's open season right now, and both the MSOs and [asymmetrical digital subscriber line] providers know this," Badding said. "The next three years are going to be growth years for them because once you start capturing those subscribers, word of mouth begins to take over."

Ivancie said TCI@Home now has more than 80,000 subscribers and hopes to have 200,000 by the end of the year.