Can UPC dominate in Europe?
‘Hold on a second. Hold on.” Cable mogul Mark Schneider is hunched over a computer, clicking away on a mouse. The chief executive officer of United Pan-Europe Communications is struggling to set up a videoconference from his Amsterdam office. But the wrong window keeps popping up. Schneider finally calls for help, and the video link from London appears. When he tries to sign off, though, the PC again resists his commands. This cable guy is clearly no gearhead. ”I have to start learning,” he says. ”We’re getting in this computer stuff so fast.” Indeed he is. Not content to simply provide his 6 million European customers with cable TV, Schneider now wants to become the Net giant in Europe by piping them telephone and high-speed Internet services as well. Schneider, an American, calls his approach ”the triple play.” It’s similar to the cable strategy AT&T is pursuing in the U.S. And like AT&T’s C. Michael Armstrong, Schneider has outsized ambitions. By creating a network of fat pip
