Live8: AOL Has Much To Gain — And Lose

AOL is rolling it all on a technological crapshoot this weekend, betting that the complex, multi-site streaming webcast of Live8 will go off without a major glitch. Pull it off and AOL will be established firmly as a web force. Any major problems — the kind that keep people from an instant-on, always-on experience and the result would be a PR nightmare.
“You can literally jump back and forth with a mouse between the concerts in London and Rome and Philadelphia,” AOL programming chief Jim Bankoff told AdAge.com (reg. req). “There’s no better way than with a massive global event to proclaim we’re now open for business on the Internet around the world.” Wonder if he had his fingers crossed.

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