AOL's Survival Will Depend on Premium Services

So what do you do with a business that is turning out cash like there is no tomorrow, but your customer base is declining fast? If you are AT&T you essentially transform yourself into a VOIP company... that is their only chance to survive long term. If you are AOL you enter into premium services to leverage your huge install base and hope to lock them in before they jump to broadband without you. In a smart move the company is launching a new video game site that they hope will get customers to buy into AOL even after they switch to broadband. Now more than ever AOL needs to be creative in new services and utilize content from other Time Warner companies to offer services that can't be matched by rivals. Imagine insider Sopranos episodes that can only be viewed by AOL subscribers or concert tickets that go on sale early to only AOL users. I am not preaching anything new here... but now is the time for AOL to move before broadband just explodes in the next 12 - 24 months.