icular ISP. The merger between America Online and Time Warner raised the specter that the merged company would turn the second largest provider of cable modem service into a "walled garden" through which customers could not reach nonproprietary content. Parties began to request that the FCC require cable modem providers to open their networks to more than one ISP (an issue initially called "open access" and eventually known as "multiple ISP access") as a condition for obtaining regulatory clearance for several major cable industry mergers, including most notably AT&T's 1999 acquisition of TCI, AT&T's 2000 acquisition of MediaOne, America Online's 2001 acquisition of Time Warner, and AT&T's 2002 sale of its cable assets to Comcast. The FCC also sought comment on multiple ISP access in its 2000 Cable Modem Notice of Inquiry (FCC 2000d). The FCC took somewhat inconsistent positions with respect to these requests to impose multiple ISP access. In 1999 and 2000, the FCC declined to require multiple ISP access as a condition of AT&T's acquisitions of TCI and MediaOne (FCC 1999b, 2000a). In 2001, however, the FTC and the FCC imposed just such a requirement when approving America Online's acquisition of Time Warner (FTC 2000, FCC 2001a). The FCC returned to its initial position in 2002 when it again declined to require multiple ISP access when approving Comcast's acquisition of AT&T's cable assets (FCC 2002d). When issuing its Cable Modem Declaratory Ruling and NPRM in 2002 ruling that cable modem was an information service, the FCC declined to resolve the issue, instead asking parties to refresh the record and to clarify their positions (FCC 2002c). At roughly the same time, the FCC sought comment on whether it should impose multiple ISP access on DSL systems (FCC 2002b). During these regulatory proceedings, numerous parties submitted comments addressing the issue of multiple ISP access (FCC 2002c, Yoo 2004b). At the same time, two coalitions of content providers, software companies, and device manu- facturers proposed 