A 'Dumb Pipe' No More: What Verizon Wants from AOL
When Verizon Communications announced Tuesday that it will buy digital content distributor AOL for $4.4 billion, the wireless giant signaled that it won't quietly watch others make money using its network.
Instead of being just a "dumb pipe", i.e., the network that is used to transfer bytes between the Internet and consumers' cell phones, Verizon now wants to create and monetize the content carried on its networks. Also crucial to the deal is AOL's advertising platform, which allows ads to be placed automatically on content.