News Corp. goes interactive
Recent moves have shown a new interest at global media oligopoly News Corporation, and may be an indication of the direction in which the media is heading. These recent activities include:
- The purchase of IGN Entertainment for $650 million. IGN is an internet company with a strong presence in interactive online games. The company owns such sites as GameSpy, ign.com, File Planet, TeamXBox, AskMen.com, and others. The emphasis on games reflects a move, especially in the Fox TV demographic of males in 15-29 age group, to replace some TV watching with online gaming. It is a certainty that IGM that captures over 25 million visitors, will be used to cross-promote other Fox/news Corp. products.
- The purchase of myspace.com and its parent Intermiz Media for $580, a social networking and "lifestyle" site. MySpace.com is the fifth ranked site on the Internet in terms of page views and claims over 20 million unique visitors. The site provides photo galleries, instant messaging, personals, chatrooms, blogs, and event listings. It also is used as way for bands to connect with their fans, give out samples, and sell music. The Intermix company also includes a product marketing service that targets the MySpace.com demographic.
- The purchase of Scout Media.com for an undisclosed sum. The company has a half dozen web sites, mostly involved with sports scouting reports and the delivering information to fantasy sports game player. Fans and fantasy sportsmen will pay for access to this information. These sites will be joined to foxsports.com, a move that could be a big benefit for both sides. Scout.com's biggest rival is, well, Rivals.com.
News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch has let it be known that the companies is out to buy a search engine to compete with internet heavyweights Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. The company also made an unsuccessful bid for VOIP phone service Skype, but was beaten out by eBay. Rumors are already flying that the company may be interesting in CNET, owner of the IGN's rival, the Gamespot network.
As noted in a BusinessWeek article ("News Corp. Acquires IGN for $650 million". 9/11/2005), Murdoch has only recently become an Internet convert. The company recently formed a new division, Fox Interactive Media.
Once skeptical about the Internet as a medium, Murdoch warned during a speech this past April to the American Society of Newspaper Editors that "digital immigrants" would have to accommodate the younger generation of "digital natives". Only a few months later, he then vowed to spend upwards of $2 billion on web acquisitions. And just last month, in a conference call Murdoch stressed "there is no greater priority for the company today than to meaningfully and profitably expand its Internet presence." According to The Wall Street Journal, News Corp. beat out another media company, Viacom Inc., to purchase IGN.
The interactive offerings supplement News Corp.'s extensive holdings in publishing, film, and broadcasting, Just for the record, here's what this media giant owns:
News Corp. holdings
| Segment |
Holdings |
Country |
| TV stations |
over 35 stations (Fox and UPN), most in major US cities, including two stations in New York, Washington, Dallas, Chicago, Orlando, Houston and others |
US |
| Broadcast and Cable TV |
Fox Network, Fox News, Fox Sports Net, SPEED, FUEL, Fox Reality, FX, National Geographic |
US |
| |
Fox Italia |
Italy |
| |
Fox Sports Australia |
Australia |
| Satellite TV |
BSkyB |
UK |
| |
Sky Italia |
Italy |
| |
DirecTV |
US & Latin America |
| |
FOXTEL |
Australia |
| |
STAR |
China, India, other Asian countries |
| Film and TV Studios |
20th Century Fox, Fox Searchl;ight, Fox Television Studios, Blue Sky Studios |
US |
| Newspapers |
New York Post |
US |
| |
The Times, Sunday Times, News of the World, The Sun, News Iinternational |
UK |
| |
The Advertiser, The Australian, The Courier-Mail, The Daily Telegraph, Gold Coast Bulletin, Herald Sun, The Mercury, Newsphotos, Newspix, Newstext, NT News, Post-Courier, Sunday Mail, Sunday Tasmanian, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Territorian, Sunday Times, Weekly Times |
Australia |
| |
Fiji Times |
Fiji |
| Magazines |
The Weekly Standard, SmartSource, TV Guide (part) |
US |
| |
Nursery World |
UK |
| |
ALPHA, donna hay, InsideOut |
Australia |
| Books |
Harper Morrow Publishers, with imprints Access, Amistad, Avon, Caedmon, Ecco, Eos, Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, PerfectBound, Quill, Rayo, ReganBooks, William Morrow |
US |
| |
Children's Books with imprints Greenwillow, Joanna Cotler, Katharine Tegen, Laura Geringer, Trophy |
US |
| |
Zondervan Books (Christian publisher) |
US |
| |
Harper Audio books |
US |
| Radio |
Fox Sports Radio |
US |
| |
Sky Radio |
Germany, Denmark, and Neth, |
| |
Classic FM, Radio Veronica |
Neth. |
| Recording |
Festival Records, Mushroom Records |
|
| Sports |
Staples Center (US) (part), National Rugby League (Australia), NHL Kings (US, part) |
|
| Interactive |
Fox Interactive, myspace.com , News Interactive (Australia), Stats.com, Scouts.com, IGN Entertainment (proposed) |
|
| Marketing services |
Broadsystem, News Optimus |
UK |
| Pay TV hardware/software |
NDS |
UK=based |
| Outdoor advertising |
News outdoor |
Eastern Europe |
| Telecommunications and network services |
Hughes Network Systems (80% share) |
|
10:15:26 PM 
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