Until 1998, AOL used to pay Disney several million dollars a year to feature ABC news on the AOL service, according to sources familiar with the terms. By 1998, when the contract came up for renewal, AOL had grown to prominence and it didn't need Disney as much. AOL wanted to extend the agreement with Disney, but without paying for ABC anymore. Disney declined but ultimately negotiated what it considered an inferior deal. For months, AOL has said it is working on ways that would make its AOL Instant Messenger service interoperable with other instant-messaging services.
Instant messaging allows users to send short notes to each other in real time over the Internet.
But rivals say AOL has done virtually nothing to help other messaging systems connect to its own. AOL said it has no record of being contacted by Odigo. AOL said before it agrees to link its instant messaging service to others the industry must find a way to protect consumer privacy and security. Instant messaging companies like Odigo, which has about 2 million subscribers, believe AOL is more interested in maintaining its dominance in this growing field. AOL counts 61 million users of Instant Messenger.