THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 24, 1997 TAG: 9701240573
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: 32 lines
A new company began offering lifetime Internet use Thursday for a one-time fee of $60. The catch: You'll have to deal with advertisements across the bottom of your screen.
(at)bigger.net offered San Francisco-area customers unlimited use of the Net, with the fee also covering a year of e-mail. After the first year, e-mail will cost $10 annually. The ads will appear in a 2 1/2-by- 1/2-inch space.
Jeff Fortin, chief executive of the San Jose company, said he hopes to land customers who can't afford the usual Internet subscription fees of $240 to $360 a year.
The idea isn't new. Since 1991, several companies have experimented with free e-mail and Internet use, paid for, like (at)bigger.net, with ad revenue instead of subscriber fees. One company, Cybermedia, even pays users to look at ads.
Analyst Emily Green with Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass., isn't convinced the plan will work, since it is currently available only in the San Francisco area.
``It's going to take a number of years before local advertising goes online and can do any damage to the Yellow Pages or local newspapers,'' Green said. ``The stuff that's fueling ad growth online right now is national advertising.''
The company plans to expand service to Los Angeles and San Diego by March and go nationwide later in the year.