Time Warner, the global media leader, on Wednesday announced that AOL will offer its software, e-mail and other products for free to broadband users in a bid to improve its online advertising business.
"For the first time in AOL's history, we're offering many of AOL's most compelling products, such as its integrated software and e-mail as well as applications for safety and security including parental controls, to broadband users free of charge," Time Warner President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Bewkes said in a statement.
"We've listened to our customers, and many of them want to keep using these AOL products when they migrate to broadband – but not pay extra for them. So now we can tell them: 'You've Got Mail – for Free,'" he added.
AOL had up to now offered its e-mail accounts to subscription paying customers, which number 24 millions around the world — chiefly in United States, Britain, France and Germany.
"We'll now be able to maintain and deepen our relationship with many more members who are likely to migrate to broadband," AOL Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Miller said.
Since 2005 Time Warner has openly pursued a strategy of developing free-access programs on AOL — such as TV series, news and music — to compete with Yahoo! and Google.
Now, the very future of fee-paid, low-speed Internet service is unclear. AOL has lopped off hundreds of call center jobs in recent months to try to offset its dwindling customer base.
AOL, formerly known as America Online, grew to an Internet giant within just a few years, and was the driving force in 2000-2001 of the mega-merger with Time Warner.
After that AOL was relegated to the simple rank of a division in the sprawling global media and entertainment parent, alongside film studio Warner Bros. Entertainment, television network Turner Broadcasting System, parent of CNN, and publisher Time Inc.
And even though the 2002 AOL accounting scandal is now a thing of the past, after being settled with federal authorities 18 months ago, the Internet division continues to worry its parent.
Its fee-based business model was overtaken when rival portals gushed free content to attract advertising. The result: AOL lost millions of subscribers quarter after quarter.
