Friday, May 9, 2008
CircuitBuster City Block
This morning, Peter Chernin, the chief operating officer of News Corp. (NWS) (which owns Dow Jones and this site), acknowledged that Fox Interactive Media, which includes MySpace, will fall short of its goal of generating $1 billion in revenue for fiscal 2008. A surprising shortfall for a division that operates the strongest social-networking offering on the Web.
But not to worry, MySpace has a solution for that. It’s just one that lacks an obvious monetization strategy. It’s called Data Availability and it’s a way for MySpace members to share and sync profile data across partner sites–starting with Yahoo (YHOO), eBay (EBAY), Twitter and Photobucket. “The walls around the garden are coming down–the implementation of Data Availability injects a new layer of social activity and creates a more dynamic Internet,” enthused Chris DeWolfe, CEO and co-founder of MySpace, in a statement. “We, alongside our Data Availability launch partners, are pioneering a new way for the global community to integrate their social experiences Web-wide.”
That’s all well and good. But how about pioneering a new way to, you know, make money off that integration? Data portability is wonderfull and all. But so is revenue. And right now, MySpace’s Data Availability initiative doesn’t include any advertising deals.
Looks like NBC Universal is the lone protester in its hastily organized iTunes walkout. News Corp.–owner of the Fox movie and TV studios (as well as this site)–will continue to sell shows through Apple’s digital-media storefront.
In an interview with Reuters, News Corp. COO Peter Chernin said that, contrary to speculation from industry observers, News Corp. has no plans to follow NBC’s lead and pull its TV shows from iTunes. “Right now we have a perfectly good relationship with Apple,” said Chernin. He did seem to agree with NBC on one issue though: network control over the pricing of programming. “… We’re the ones who should determine what the fair price for our product is, not Apple.”
Ah. So by saying News Corp. has a good relationship with Apple “right now,” did Chernin, who was interviewed this year by BoomTown’s Kara Swisher at the D5 conference, mean to imply that it might not have that sort of relationship in the future? Because good relationships with Apple don’t seem all that enduring these days, especially where disputes over iTunes pricing are concerned.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper.
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Fill the fun bar all the way to the top and keep it there for a few seconds to have a successful date.
… in 2 Minutes
3. Among those earning 10-figure incomes, Mr. Soros’s total annual compensation is greater than Mr. Falcone’s. Mr. Falcone’s is greater than Mr. Griffin’s. Mr. Griffin’s is smaller than Mr. Soros’s, and Mr. Paulson’s is greater than Mr. Soros’s. In descending order, list the men by the respective hotness of their trophy wives.
Dear Mr. Prince: It’s been three days since you delivered your keynote address, “When Doves Cry,” to our organization, the American Ornithological Society.
I’ll have the “J&J fresh intestine pot,” a side of “cowboy leg” and the “carbon burns black bowel” to go, please.
Starring Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell
… in CSS
Lenovo has its way with Apple’s MacBook Air ads
If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where my cemetery plot is, and what my lousy adulthood was like …
googletimewarner.com? googlepoo.com?