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What does AOL have to do with all of this? AOL is getting ready to stomp on the entertainment industry as a whole. Why?
They've been striking down every law possible that prevents them from owning more than one type of medium in a given area. By medium, I mean cable, radio, newspapers, etc.
Do you remember the bid they put in for AT&T? Thankfully, they lost, but here's what you get if they won:

AOL would've owned: cable, ISP (through AT&T broadband connection business), radio, newspaper.

In other words, they own the news, they own what you see, they own what you hear, they own the net. They are trying in earnest to put a trademark on the net, and the FCC is leaning in their favor.
No, this doesn't affect just anime, but all types of entertainment. I see AOL not as a provider, but as the destroyer of good anime. I'd rather not see any anime on Toonami than to see it cut to shreds.
You will probably call me a purist for that, but I look at it this way: I am tired of having to watch watered down anime because kids would watch it. I want to see anime on television, and I want the original unedited versions. There are some excellent movies that I think would do wonderful in a prime-time slot. Who will take the chance?

Of all the current reviews by the news media (on anime, Escaflowne, and Metropolis) my favorite line is written in a reveiw by L.A. Times critic Charles Solomon on Escaflowne:

"Kazuki Akane directs the action sequences with panache. In the spectacular opening sword fight, Van single-handedly dispatches a cadre of enemy soldiers. American animated villains either fall to their deaths or get knocked unconscious in comic takes; Van beheads the enemy leader with a sword stroke Toshiro Mifune might envy."

Whoohooo!

Laugh all you want. I already see lawsuits of this kind. They do not deal with anime, but they deal with what I said about a provider (in this case, AT&T, which owns the cable division in the area in question) shutting out a would be advertiser that refused to allow AT&T to buy them. No ads, no profits.
I sincerely hope anime stays popular enough so that adults can keep demanding both versions. If we fail to do so then eventually, I see problems.

I think Microsoft is much further along in it's endeavor to control everything than AOL. With a little luck they will battle with each other to the point they cripple each other and only Tokyo will be destroyed leaving the rest of us to dance around with lollipops and snicker doodles.

Microsoft may have an advantage, but I don't think it's that much. They both have a piece of the net. It would be an interesting fight to watch, though.