Comcast cuts ‘open access’ deal with NetZero and Juno

Comcast will officially terminate its relationship with Excite@Home this Thursday; 90 days from now, the company will unveil its first multiple provider environments. The Philadelphia-based cable company today announced a deal with United Online, parent company of NetZero and Juno, to make those services available to Comcast subscribers in Nashville and Indianapolis. A nationwide rollout is envisioned from there.

“In January, we converted nearly one million customers to our own Comcast high-speed Internet service, and in February we’re announcing our first multiple ISP,” Roberts said. “This is not done for anything but a commercial opportunity to really try to continue the fabulous success that cable modems have been.”

The business model between the two companies is a “win-win” partnership from Comcast’s point of view. “Juno and NetZero can bring their marketing savvy to the broadband space. At the same time, from a business model perspective, we can roll this out very quickly,” Roberts said.

Comcast has about 467,000 cable subscribers and 77,000 high-speed Internet users in the initial two markets. Adding United Online’s services, Roberts said, will expand those broadband markets and not necessarily cannibalize the Comcast service.

While details of the relationship were fuzzy--especially the prices Comcast will charge United Online for access to its networks and United’s subscriber fees--the companies said that Comcast would continue to handle service installations where required.

The broadband relationship marks a departure for United Online, which had shied away from any sort of broadband strategy.

“We have said repeatedly that we were desirous of entering the broadband market if, and only if, we could find a partner that would enable us to do this without a capital expenditure outlay--without us having to add a lot of manpower to do this and to provide a retail price point that would let us generate gross profit dollars per user equal to or greater than what we could generate on our $9.95 dial-up service. In Comcast, we have found such a partner,” said Mark Goldston, chairman, president and CEO of Unite Online.