Prodigy

"Prodigy was an early player looking to connect personal computers on a private subscriber network. Prodigy’s owners were IBM and Sears. IBM, the largest computer maker in the world at the time, and Sears, one of the biggest retailers, were offering news, sports, weather, entertainment, and home shopping through Sears and other retailers. Members could “message” one another only on the proprietary, closed Prodigy network. The biggest of these new networking services was AOL, followed closely by CompuServe, owned by H&R Block Inc. and General Electric Company. They were all clunky, closed-off networks or “walled gardens.” Simple connections took a few minutes and required special software and modems, and some services charged per minute for usage!"

"Sometimes in business, a strategy doesn’t appear to work at first, but the knowledge you gain is more valuable because it informs decisions down the road. In late 1988, Rupert called with a very particular request. “John, you know about computers and networks and so on, and there’s a company called Prodigy…” We had been closely watching the “computer information services,” as they were called back then. Rupert wanted to explore joint acquisitions using TCI’s networking and News Corp.’s programming. “There must be something here for us,” he said."