AOL, @Home battle speeds up.

The fight between America Online Inc. and Redwood City-based Excite@Home Corp. is escalating, as some cable TV companies start to offer AOL customers big discounts if they sign up for Excite@Home_s high-speed Internet service. AT&T Corp. plans to offer AOL subscribers up to six months of free AOL service if they sign up for TCI@Home, AT&T_s high-speed Internet link. The service is offered over selected Tele-Communications Inc. cable networks that AT&T acquired earlier this year. Sixteen Bay Area communities -- 14 in the East Bay plus Marin and Petaluma -- are included in the offer, which is expected to reach nearly 400,000 AOL subscribers. AOL won_t have a high-speed service of its own for at least a few more months, so it can_t respond in kind to Excite@Home_s pitch. AOL, which declined to comment on AT&T_s move, has been pressing local, state and federal officials to open the cable networks, fueling an increasingly bitter battle with Excite@Home and the cable operators. The offer works this way: AOL customers who sign up for TCI@Home service by Aug. 31 will receive a monthly credit of $9.95 through the end of the year. AOL normally charges $21.95 per month but cuts its rate to $9.95 for subscribers who use a competing Internet provider to connect to AOL_s network. The TCI@Home service costs $39 per month. As part of the offer, AT&T is waiving its installation charge and promising to refund the first month_s fee if a user isn_t satisfied within 30 days.