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22 Whittier L. Rev. 3 (2000-2001)
Open Access to Cable Modems

handle is hein.journals/whitlr22 and id is 13 raw text is: OPEN ACCESS TO CABLE
MODEMS*
MARK A. LEMLEY
LAWRENCE LESSIG
What follows is an ex parte declaration we filed with the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) in December 1999 on the
question of open access to broadband cable Internet services.l We
filed this declaration in connection with the proposed merger of AT&T
and MediaOne. In it, we suggested that the FCC condition approval of
the merger on a commitment by AT&T to reverse its policy of linking
cable modem service to the use of its in-house Internet service
provider-@Home.
Events have moved rapidly since we filed this declaration.
AT&T has tentatively agreed to open its cable modem service to
competing ISPs, decoupling the provision of ISP services from the
provision of broadband cable Internet access. The AT&T/MediaOne
merger will shortly be resolved. However, when America Online (the
nation's largest ISP) recently bought Time-Warner (the nation's
second-largest cable   company), new     questions  about AOL's
commitment to open access in the broadband cable market were raised.
* © 2000 Mark A. Lemley & Lawrence Lessig. This ex parte declaration was
filed with the Federal Communications Commission regarding In re Application for
Consent to the Transfer of Control of Licenses MediaOne Group, Inc. to AT&T Corp.,
Fed. Commun. Commn., CS Docket No. 99-251 (Dec. 1999). This publication
preserves the substance of the exparte declaration.
** Lemley is a Professor of Law at the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of
California at Berkeley, and of counsel to Fish & Richardson P.C. Lessig is a Professor
of Law at Stanford Law School.
1. In re Application for Consent to the Transfer of Control of Licenses MediaOne
Group, Inc. to AT&T Corp., Fed. Commun. Commn., CS Docket No. 99-251 (Dec.
1999).

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