| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 13, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| MEDIA
The Cyberspace Race How old and new media are scrambling to control the Web P = Portal C = Content D = Distribution E = E-Commerce* I = Internet Stock PC = Promotional Clout G = Global Reach ENTERTAINMENT GIANTS DISNEY CEO Michael Eisner has invested heavily in trying to beat Internet portals at their own game. So far, Disney's Go Network is the fifth-most visited site. It has great assets such as ABC and ESPN, but online leadership and direction are unclear. P C I PC G TIME WARNER CEO Gerald Levin is shaping hundreds of Web sites into five ''hubs'': sports, news, entertainment, business, and women. He is betting that his content will prevail and that he can attract a huge Internet audience through his cable holdings. But is his empire too unwieldy? C D E PC G VIACOM CEO Sumner Redstone vows Viacom will do on the Web for children and teens what it did on cable TV with Nickelodeon and MTV. Already, MTV.com is the most-visited music site, but with digital downloading of songs and videos, music is shaping up to be one of the Web's most competitive areas. C PC G NEWS CORPORATION Rupert Murdoch is betting that his TV Guide Inc.'s interactive programming guides will evolve into a major portal when TVs and PCs converge. Elsewhere, he's playing catch-up, including starting a $300 million venture capital arm for Web investments. C PC G NETWORK POWERHOUSES NBC Following a big hit with MSNBC, the network hopes to build Snap.com into a leading portal and use its new Web stock, NBCi, to make more deals. So far, it is the best-positioned network for the new world. P C I PC CBS After CBS hit the Web stock jackpot by trading promotion for stakes in CBS MarketWatch and CBS Sportsline, CEO Mel Karmazin has snapped up about a dozen new dot.coms this year. So far, however, online efforts don't tie directly into CBS's programs in a big way. PC E-PEDDLERS USA CEO Barry Diller's shifting master plan combines traditional media assets (cable channels, TV stations) with interactive businesses such as Home Shopping Network and Ticketmaster. After the abandoned Lycos bid, he's looking for another big portal or traditional network to drive traffic. C I E SONY Aside from its deal with Time Warner to buy music site CDnow, Sony has shied from big Web deals. But it may actually have a money-spinning business model on its hands with its popular online games. PC C E G BERTELSMANN A partner with AOL in Europe, the company also has a large stake in barnesandnoble.com to go with its huge book-publishing unit. Its large music group is linked with Seagram in GetMusic.com. It wants to eliminate the middle man, but its online retail sales acumen is unproven. C D E G ONLINE HEAVYWEIGHTS AMERICA ONLINE The world's No. 1 online service boasts revenue from subscriptions, advertising, and E-commerce. And its market cap is still $100 billion. AOL's big challenges are lack of original content and competition from high-speed cable networks. P D E I YAHOO! With more than 80 million users worldwide, Yahoo! offers a broader array of services and information than most anyone. Lacking content and broadband distribution, it may have to take on new partners. P E I G MICROSOFT Though lagging behind AOL, Microsoft has been beefing up its MSN portal, most recently with instant messaging. Plus it has sites for just about everything and has invested in broadband cable. Bill Gates's juggernaut can never be counted out. P D C E G *E-commerce as a major feature of strategy _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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RELATED ITEMS Media Giants: Dot.com or Bust TABLE: The Cyberspace Race INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
