Archives: November 2006

Sometimes Psychological Motivations Are Not That Complex

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 29, Categories: Hank Greenberg, New York Times, The Moguls-Newspapers Thing

Hank Greenberg must be in need of some attention. Let's not forget that--how to put this?-- you can't put the Times in play, period. Or that Greenberg might be a...

This Will Not Disprove Any Theories . . .

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 29, Categories: Tribune

. . . about how the modern newspaper company can't get anything done quickly. I’ve harped on this before but, forgive me, I still can’t get over it. A...

AOL: New Metaphor Sighted!

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 22, Categories: AOL

Is comparing AOL to network television a smart thing for its new CEO to be saying? I will grant Falco this: I think this is the first time I've heard...

O.J. Simpson, And The Difference Between The Book Biz And The TV Biz

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 21, Categories: News Corp., O.J. Simpson, Rupert Murdoch

News Corp. made a number of stunning miscalculations in the handling of O.J. Simpson's sort-of-confessional If I Did It, and chief among them is that it forgot the difference between...

Newspapers And Yahoo, Their Star Reporters, And The Future Thereof

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 20, Categories: Newspaper Agonistes, Newspapers, Yahoo

Today in the news we have: --A very broad hook-up between Yahoo and over 170 newspapers, encompassing help-wanted classifieds and local news and search. These talks had been brewing for...

Oy. Timing.

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 16, Categories: NBC Universal

Two top NBC Universal executives have fled to other companies in the past two days: Randy Falco split to run AOL, and its President of cable and domestic TV David...

Reader's Digest Goes Private, And The Irony Thereof

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 16, Categories: Private Equity, Reader's Digest

The private equity-i-zation of media companies is rapidly leaving the realm of the hypothetical, if you go by the $21 billion worth of private equity deals for media companies announced...

Jon Miller Out At AOL . . .

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 15, Categories: AOL

. . . Randy Falco, President-COO of NBC Uni's TV Group is in. Very quickly, and hopefully coherently: 1. One outside exec's quick take: "Maybe they wanted a content...

Just In: 732 New Potential Bidders Surface

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 14, Categories: Tribune

Given all the recent developments, I'm starting to wonder who isn't interested in all or part of Tribune....

Scenes From An Actually Interesting Breakfast

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 09, Categories:

That would be a confab this morning sponsored by The Week magazine, at which Sir Harold Evans moderated a panel on the topic of The Digital Media Revolution. (Stop nodding...

Los Angeles Times, Britney Spears Offer Case Studies In Media Management!

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 08, Categories: Britney Spears, Los Angeles Times, Newspaper Agonistes, Tribune

Surely it's entirely coincidental that Britney Spears and the Los Angeles Times (and by extension Tribune Co.) both essentially buried bad news by putting it out there yesterday. I mean,...

It's Not Just MySpace. How Soon Before Everyone Is Partnering And Competing With Google?

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 06, Categories: Google, Newspapers

Judging from the news about Google Print Ads, maybe sooner than we thought. Here's one thing I am wondering: Is the prospect of Google allowing advertisers to place ads in...

Time Warner: Tomorrow's Conventional Wisdom Today!

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 02, Categories: Time Warner

Regarding Time Warner's surprisingly decent earnings report of yesterday, and Time Inc.'s what-took-them-so-long push into a more aggressive Web strategy: Old CW: AOL's walled garden approach allowed competitors to build...

Breaking: Upcoming Launch Viv Magazine Actually Tries Something New

Posted by: Jon Fine on November 01, Categories: Magazines

The latest take on the digital magazine is here—and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it is coming from outside the extant magazine-industrial complex. Viv is an independently published health-and-wellness play with certain New...