AOL UK and BT slug it out on telly

The row between AOL UK and BT over the roll-out and allocation of ADSL spilled onto TV screens last night as the two corporate giants went head-to-head in front of an audience of millions.

Both AOL UK's Matt Peacock and BT's Steve Andrews exchanged blows on the BBC's prime-time consumer affairs programme Watchdog.

Andrews said that installing ADSL was a complex business like "putting a six-lane motorway up people's gardens" and that BT was being "absolutely fair" in the allocation of installations.

Peacock said that this wasn't happening in reality and said that BT's mission in life was to "maintain a monopoly".

In the end, a few short minutes in such contrived circumstances did little to further the debate on the something already described as a "national disgrace".

The sorry fact is that the issue probably went over the heads of many viewers. ®