The cable guys looking at the Internet were the same ones who 30 years ago climbed up poles and trees and strung their own cable systems themselves. Glenn Jones of Jones Cable lived in his car and was a one-man cable firm when he began. These guys and gals are entrepreneurs. You'd never see the head of any telco doing that. It's bureaucracy vs. vision.
Graphics routinely cause constipation.
Cable modems looked like they may speed up the process. So far in 1998 I think sign ups are slower than I would have guessed 12 months ago. ATHM still ended the year with 185 percent upside. The thinking was that not every company wants to hire a geek brigade to run an Internet department. Outsource the entire thing.