AOL began after Warner turned down a plan to sell music through cable television.
Bill von Meister had Warner’s tentative backing to beam albums to cable subscribers, until record stores threatened a boycott. Warner owned Atari, and suggested he send its games down phone lines instead. His GameLine launched into the video-game crash of 1983. What was left became America Online, which in 2000 agreed to buy Time Warner.
AOL on Brandseum