cts ranging from Bugs Bunny to CNN, and held the most copyrights in the world. AOL was by far the world's leading online service company, with more than 22 million customers using its e-mail, chat, and instant messaging services. Within minutes of hearing news of the merger, several of Arm- strong's senior executives gathered in his office to discuss what it might mean to us. "Is this about content, or is it about distribution." was the question we were batting around. In other words, did AOL do the deal in order to exploit Time Warner's vast content creation capabilities or to get access to its cable systems? And why did Time Warner agree to be acquired? Was it because the company really be- Tough Calls lieved that the Internet would make its paper-and-ink products obso- lete, or was it to add one more distribution system to its arsenal? It would obviously be in AT&T's interest for the deal to be seen as con- firmation of cable as the premier content-distribution system. But it also raised other issues: Would this make it easier or harder for us to cash out of the Time Warner Entertainment partnership that we had inherited with the MediaOne acquisition? Would AOL change its tune on opening cable to unaffiliated Internet service providers now that it had the prospect of actually owning cable systems? I reminded Armstrong that we would be in the second round of calls that reporters would make after they read Time Warner's news release. They would first call analysts and industry gurus for their take on what the merger meant. Then they would call us to see what we thought and how we reacted to their still-developing analysis. While I began scribbling a statement, Armstrong excused himself and disap- peared into his private bathroom. Moments later, Armstrong's secre- tary came into the office. "Where'd he go?" she asked. "Case and Levin are on the phone." Steve Case was the CEO of America Online; Gerry Levin, the CEO of Time Warner. I knocked on the bathroom door and told Armstrong who was on the phone. He came out 