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Old 05-07-2009, 11:01 PM   #1
Machinamentum
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Default Rupert Murdoch: "The current days of the internet will soon be over"

Forgive me if this is a repeat post, been out of the loop for a bit.



Rupert *Murdoch expects to start charging for access to News Corporation's newspaper websites within a year as he strives to fix a *"malfunctioning" business model.

Encouraged by booming online subscription revenues at the Wall Street Journal, the billionaire media mogul last night said that papers were going through an "epochal" debate over whether to charge. "That it is possible to charge for content on the web is obvious from the Wall Street Journal's experience," he said.

Asked whether he envisaged fees at his British papers such as the Times, the Sunday Times, the Sun and the News of the World, he replied: "We're absolutely looking at that." Taking questions on a conference call with reporters and analysts, he said that moves could begin "within the next 12 months‚" adding: "The current days of the internet will soon be over."

Plunging earnings from newspapers led the way downwards as News Corporation's quarterly operating profits slumped by 47% to $755m, although exceptional gains on sale of assets boosted bottom-line pretax profits to $1.7bn, in line with last year's figure.

Dwindling advertising revenue across print and television divisions depressed the News Corp numbers despite box office receipts from Twentieth Century Fox movies such as Slumdog Millionaire and Marley and Me. But Murdoch said he believed signs of hope were appearing.

"I'm not an economist and we all know economists were created to make weather forecasters look good," he quipped. "But it is increasingly clear the worst is over."

He continued: "There are encouraging signs in some of our businesses that the days of precipitous declines are done, and things are beginning to look healthier."

News Corp's newspaper division barely broke even, with quarterly profits collapsing from $216m to $7m year-on-year. Advertising revenue in Britain fell by 21% and Murdoch revealed the Sunday Times is struggling: "It's still in profit, but only just so." The tabloids had fared better, aided by price battles at supermarkets which spend heavily on print promotions.

Television profits also shrank dramatically, falling from $419m to $4m due to a loss of Superbowl revenue and weaker advertising at the group's Fox channels in the US and its Star network in Asia.

News Corp has cut 3,000 jobs over the last year, although Murdoch said very few affected journalists or "creative" personnel. Its filmed entertainment division enjoyed an 8% rise in profits to $282m, while Fox News Channel in the US helped push profits from cable subscription networks up by 30% to $429m.

But News Corp revealed that its interactive media division, which includes the social networking site MySpace, had turned in a lower contribution. MySpace's management was recently replaced as News Corp struggles to build sustainable profitability but Murdoch dismissed competition from its larger rival, Facebook.

"We're not going for the Facebook model of getting hundreds and hundreds of million of people who don't bring any advertising with them at all," he said.

Meanwhile a threat to close the Boston Globe was averted today as its owner, the New York Times Company, struck a deal with the daily's largest union after a week of talks; the 137-year-old publication is the the 14th biggest-selling US paper.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=26758
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Old 05-07-2009, 11:07 PM   #2
Machinamentum
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Default Re: Rupert Murdoch: "The current days of the internet will soon be over"

EU wants "Internet G12" to govern cyberspace

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission wants the US to dissolve all government links with the body that 'governs' the internet, replacing it with an international forum for discussing internet governance and online security.

The rules and decisions on key internet governance issues, such as the creation of top level domains (such as .com and .eu) and managing the internet address system that ensures computers can connect to each other, are currently made by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a private, not-for profit corporation based in California which operates under an agreement with the US Department of Commerce.

Commissioner Reding wants internet governance fully privatised but overseen by an international forum (Photo: EURid)

The decisions made by ICANN affect the way the internet works all around the world.

EU information society commissioner Viviane Reding on Monday (4 May) suggested a new model for overseeing the internet from October this year, when the Commerce Department agreement runs out.

She called on US President Barack Obama to fully privatise ICANN and set up an independent judicial body, described as a "G12 for internet governance," which she described as a "multilateral forum for governments to discuss general internet governance policy and security issues."

"I trust that President Obama will have the courage, the wisdom and the respect for the global nature of the internet to pave the way in September for a new, more accountable, more transparent, more democratic and more multilateral form of Internet Governance," she said via a video message posted on her commission website.

The expiry of the agreement between ICANN and the US government "opens the door for the full privatisation of ICANN, and it also raises the question of to whom ICANN should be accountable," she said.

"In the long run, it is not defendable that the government department of only one country has oversight of an internet function which is used by hundreds of millions of people in countries all over the world."

Instead, Brussels would prefer that an international government forum that to meet twice a year makes recommendations by majority vote to the newly privatised ICANN. The forum would be restricted to representatives from 12 countries, with a regional balance taken into consideration.

Her "Internet G12" would include two representatives each from North America, South America, Europe and Africa, three representatives from Asia and Australia, as well as the Chairman of ICANN as a non-voting member. International organisations with competences in this field meanwhile could be given observer status.

The new US administration's position on global internet governance is not yet clear. However, during the Bush administration, Washington was steadfastly opposed to handing ICANN over to the United Nations.

The commission will hold a conference on Wednesday (6 May) in Brussels to discuss the issue with Europe's internet community.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=26757
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Old 05-07-2009, 11:12 PM   #3
feeler
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Default Re: Rupert Murdoch: "The current days of the internet will soon be over"

feeler: "The heyday of News Corporation's newspaper websites will soon be over"
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Old 05-07-2009, 11:40 PM   #4
THE eXchanger
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Default Re: Rupert Murdoch: "The current days of the internet will soon be over"

when the computer replaced the typewriter

the world survived !!!

besides the internet was a gift from the et's

as for the newspaper media people

sooner or later, if you print a bunch of lies

the world at large, catches up with you !!!

besides, newpapers, are an insult to trees
with all the **** and lies, they print on them !!!

it's a good thing 9 different sides - own 9 different things

otherwise, if one side, owned it all -- we'd likely be in trouble

i used to think unions, were real bad

however, it appears, the unions-do keep some things in line
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Old 05-08-2009, 12:50 AM   #5
alyscat
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Default Re: Rupert Murdoch: "The current days of the internet will soon be over"

HA, the NYT was allowing news for free, but charging for internet viewing of op-ed pieces. Now I see the for free, because I get a daily posting of what is on the NYT. I'm guessing that the model Murdoch is looking at is not going to work as he thinks it will because the competition for print media is not the internet, but television.
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Old 05-08-2009, 03:36 AM   #6
feeler
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Default Re: Rupert Murdoch: "The current days of the internet will soon be over"

Quote:
Originally Posted by eXchanger View Post
besides, newpapers, are an insult to trees
with all the **** and lies, they print on them !!!
LL

I'd read the News Corp stuff only if I am paid to do it. Murdoch must be from a different planet.

-feeler
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Old 05-08-2009, 05:57 AM   #7
orthodoxymoron
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Default Re: Rupert Murdoch: "The current days of the internet will soon be over"

I don't watch TV at all. I don't even have a TV. I didn't renew my subscriptions to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I rely almost completely on the internet...and I don't look at the major news sources. 'Times...they are a changing.' The Bancroft family dumped the Wall Street Journal just in time. Unfortunately, the new WSJ does not have the editorial integrity of the old WSJ...which is what the Bancroft's were worried about.

orthodoxymoron: 'The current days of the mainstream media will soon be over. Thank God. RIP'

Last edited by orthodoxymoron; 05-08-2009 at 06:00 AM.
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