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Extended
New Media Index





An Ongoing Wrap-Up of Key Developments on the Interactive Frontier

Updated 12/27/00

More recent news items are at the beginning of each section. For just the most recent news, visit the NAA New Media Federation's Digital Edge. Also be sure to read Presstime's monthly new-media commentary.



[ Strategic Moves | Online-Newspapers | Public Policy | Trends | TV/Video | Technology | People ]




"As with most things on the Internet, revenues probably aren't living up to management expectations and that means costs have to be tweaked."

---Kevin Gruneich, newspaper industry analyst at Bear Stearns of New York City on KnightRidder.com's decision to reduce its staff by a net of 34 positions, as quoted by The Associate Press, Dec. 4.

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STRATEGIC MOVES

Small market newspapers in Oregon are gaining a World Wide Web presence thanks to Oregon Interactive, a new company that has its roots in the newspaper business.Oregon Interactive offers newspapers membership in its Oregon Newspaper Network, which links visitors to the newspapers' Web sites from Oregon.com. Members receive a share of Oregon.com's advertising revenue. Oregon Interactive also licenses a Web application that's geared specifically to small market newspapers. Both membership dues and application fees are based on the newspaper's print circulation. The Web application was developed by the News-Register in McMinnsville, Ore., a 10,000 circulation newspaper that is printed three times a week. "We couldn't afford third-party vendor offerings so we built one ourselves," says Dan Shryock, the News-Register's former Internet director. Other newspapers saw the paper's Web site and asked about buying the Web application so last year the News-Register formed NewsHelp.com, an entity separate from the newspaper, to sell the application. On Jan. 1, NewsHelp.com merged with Oregon.com to create Oregon Interactive. Currently, 20 newspapers are Oregon Newspaper Network members but Shryock says he expects that number to double in the coming months. "We want to make sure small market newspapers protect their franchise against the threat of the Internet," says Shryock, who now works for Oregon Interactive. "We want to make sure newspapers not only survive but flourish with the Internet. Whether they use our Web application or join our network, we want to help them." The Web application is available to newspapers outside of Oregon, says Shryock. For more information, contact him at (866) 472-3322; e-mail, dshryock@oregon.com.

Online publishers cut staff:

• Oxygen Media, a cable and Internet network aimed at women, cuts 44 full-time and 21 part-time employees (The Digital Edge).
• Hearst Corp.'s woman.com cuts 85 jobs or about 25 percent of its workforce (Washtech.com).
• Washington Post Co.-funded Bigstep.com lays off 34 employees in its San Francisco office. Bigstep offers World Wide Web hosting and online storefront services to small businesses (CNETNews.com).
• knightridder.com reduced its staff by a net of 34 positions as part of a major restructuring that is designed to focus resources on recruitment classified-ad sales, building a new single platform for the Real Cities Network and leveraging KnightRidder.com's multi-market scale.
• thestreet.com lays off 20 percent of its U.S. staff, closes a joint newsroom with NYTimes.com and shutters its U.K operation in an effort to become profitable. The company says its deep staff cuts will result in an annual savings of $3.1 million.
• Discovery Communications Inc. of Bethesda, Md., sheds almost half its 200-person online staff and most of its 150 contingent employees (washtech.com).
• The Arizona Republic in Phoenix lays off 14 of the 86 staff members supporting its digital media operations. Eight positions were reassigned to other departments and six vacant digital media positions will be reduced through attrition. The cutbacks were spread across content, sales and other areas of operation (The Digital Edge).

  Publishers continue investing online:

• Hollinger International Inc. of Chicago, publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, invests in Alchemedia Technologies Inc., a San Francisco-based company that develops solutions for protecting information on Web sites and intranets.
• National Geographic Society's business unit takes a 19 percent stake in Novica.com, an online retailer of arts and crafts from developing countries (Washtech.com).
• Torstar Corp., publisher of the Toronto Star, and Sympatio-Lycos Inc. of Toronto, buys Ticketmaster-Online Citysearch's 10 percent ownership of toronto.com. Each company now owns 50 percent of the online city guide (The Digital Edge).

  The Federal Trade Commission approves the proposed merger of America Online of Dulles, Va., and Time Warner of New York City. As part of the agreement, the new company must open its cable system to competitors (The New York Times, 12/14).

  The New York Times prepares for convergence in the news business with a proposed television show called, National Edition. Expected to launch next fall, it would include national and international news and be broadcast on the Public Broadcasting System (The New York Observer, 11/30).

  The Sioux City (Iowa) Journal partners with Clickshare Service Corp. of Williamstown, Mass., to allow only paid print subscribers access to portions of it's Web site. Readers also can use the service to buy content from KnightRidder/Tribune Business News.

  Gannett Co.-funded Away.com partners with Primedia Inc., publisher of 11 history-related magazines. Under the agreement, Away.com operates the Primedia-owned Web site, HistoricTraveler.com and Primedia takes an equity stake in Away.com and receive a share of the revenue from HistoricTraveler.com (Washtech.com)

  Monster.com launches "The Monster Show," a 30-minute program debuting on The Learning Channel that presents success stories about job seekers whose lives are dramatically improved as a result of finding new employment through Monster.com and employers who find the talented workers they need (The Digital Edge).

  Dow Jones & Co. of New York City signs an agreement with the Books-A-Million chain of Birmingham, Ala., to sell WSJ.com subscription packages at more than 100 southeastern and mid-atlantic Books-A-Million stores (The Digital Edge).

  PowerAdz.com of Troy, N.Y., acquires Michigan-based The Internet Edition Inc., which provides online publishing services to 34 newspapers. PowerAdz has more than 1,500 U.S. newspapers in its network.

  MSNBC expands its local news affiliates by adding editorial material fromThe Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel, Star Tribune in Minneapolis and The Union Leader in Manchester, N.H. (The Digital Edge).

  The San Francisco Chronicle distributes Access Internet Magazine with its Sunday newspaper.

  Careerbuilder.com doubles in size, targeting local job markets. Owned by Tribune Co. of Chicago and Knight Ridder of San Jose, Careerbuilder adds more than 35 local career centers to its network, including latimes.com, chicagotribune.com, BayArea.com and philly.com.

  Lee Enterprises Inc. of Davenport, Iowa, invests $1.5 million in CityXpress, a Vancouver, B.C.-based company that creates special online sections similar to category-focused supplements that appear in print. These special sections on home and gardening, travel and leisure include directory listings and coupons (The Digital Edge).

  The Toronto Star unveils a new look for its World Wide Web site, thestar.com. The site is powered by Open Market Inc.'s FutureTense technology and uses Google.com and AltaVista for internal and external Web searches (The Digital Edge).

  Old media marries new media as Premedia, publisher of Seventeen, New York and Modern Bride magazines, acquires Web directory, about.com, for $690 million stock. About.com solicits general Web users to become editors based on their areas of expertise. They are asked to create topic-specific areas by organizing Web links and gathering information. Premedia also has stakes in MyPoints.com, CarsDirect.com and utility.com.

  BiteVision Media will embed coffee cup jackets with Digimarc Corp.'s invisible digital watermarks to link coffee drinkers to popular consumer Internet addresses such as Yahoo, WineShopper and Webmiles. To be transported to the web, coffee drinkers hold their cup up to an image capture device, such as a computer's Web camera.

  KnightRidder.com's Real Cities will provide local news channels to millions of Palm handheld users though the Palm Mobile Internet Kit. Under the arrangement, Real Cities will offer news channels from leading U.S. newspapers nationwide as well as special interest sites such as Auto.com and ThatsRacin.com, a NASCAR-related site.

  KnightRidder.com partners with StoreRunner.net, an e-commerce infrastructure company featuring world-class shopping content for the Internet. Under the agreement, StoreRunner will develop a customized co-branded shopping channel with KnightRidder that includes news tools and host merchant promotions that will extend Real Cities' merchant platform and sales programs.

  Homestore.com buys rival move.com for $761 million in stock. Move.com, giving Homestore, whose main Web site is Realtor.com, exclusive 40-year access to the aggregated listings of all homes listed with Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and ERA. Prior to this purchase, Homestore controlled more than 90 percent of the homes listed for sale on the Internet (The Digital Edge; Bloomberg News).

  Dow Jones & Co's The Wall Street Journal and Barron's provide content to yahoo.com. Yahoo users who link to stories hosted by WSJ.com won't be charged to read the articles (The Digital Edge).

  Hearst Corp.'s Marie Claire becomes the first fashion magazine to use UltiMedia's Ultigo in March 2001. The technology allows readers to log onto marieclarie.com to learn more about or find out how to buy products featured in the advertising pages.

  Anchorage Daily News, The Columbian of Vancouver, Wash., The Register-Guard of Eugene, Ore., Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Skagit Valley Herald of Mount Vernon, Wash., and Tacoma, Wash.'s The News Tribune and Tri-City Herald become member's of the Northwest Related News Network, which enables online publishers to broaden the reach of their Web sites and expand their readers' access to local, regional and national news. Seattle-based FizzyLab, an information infrastructure company, launched the network.

  PowerAdz.com releases an online holiday guide that provides online readers of more than 1,400 newspapers access to timely articles and information about holiday gift ideas and recipes. The guide will complement Zwire! affiliates' in-print holiday promotions and advertising.

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  ONLINE

  Newspapers' online moves continue:

  • The New York Daily News joins KnightRidder.com's Real Cities network, giving KnightRidder affiliates in a dozen of the nation's top 26 markets.
  • The Commercial Appeal in Memphis adds three new features to its Web site--more local breaking news, access on handheld wireless devices and a redesigned entertainment section at goplaymemphis.com. The site also becomes a Real Cities affiliate.
  • The Sun of Baltimore allows classified advertisers to place ads in its print or online edition via the Internet using AdStar.com's Advertise123.com or through the Sun's online service, sunspot.net.
  • Heritage Newspapers of Southgate, Mich., upgrades its Net-Linx advertising system.
  • Murphy McGinnis Media, publisher of 17 daily and weekly newspapers in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin, selects CarCast, a turnkey Internet car buying service from PowerAdz.com of Troy, N.Y., to launch its online auto marketplace. Meanwhile, Trinity Holdings Inc. of Monroeville, Pa., plans to publish the Internet editions of its 19 newspapers using Zwire! from PowerAdz.com. Trinity publishes one daily, the Morning Journal in Lisbon, Ohio, plus 15 weeklies and three shoppers.
  • The Village Voice boasts 1,000 subscribers for its two-month-old digital classified service that sends job listings, real estate and personals to subscribers before the ads appear in print. The service costs $10 for a one-week subscription (The Digital Edge).
  • The Arizona Republic's azcentral.com now streams local audio news content, delivering updated reports at least three times daily on weekdays. The site also offers audio channels dedicated to national and world news as well as business, sports and entertainment headlines.
  • The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel launches a daily business e-mail service called "Wisconsin Business 411." Messages are delivered weekdays at 4:11 p.m. (The Digital Edge).
  • The Star Tribune Co. of Minneapolis signs an agreement with OpenSeats.com that it will add a link to OpenSeats on the Star Tribune's Web site. In exchange, the Star Tribune will receive a referral fee based on the number of users who register to sell or purchase tickets.
  • New York Times Digital adds Salary.com's Salary Wizard to the NYTimes.com and Boston.com, allowing employers and employees access to compensation figures for industries, positions and regions.
  • USAToday.comchanges the name of its online commerce section from marketplace to shop.USAToday.com. The site links to more than 50 online retailers (The Digital Edge).
  • MaineToday.comreceives $30,000 from the Pew Center for Civic Journalism in Washington, D.C., for online community development.
  • USAToday.com and Dow Jones Newswires pick companies to handle wireless formatting of their content. USAToday.com selects AirLoom of Ownings Mills, Md., andDow Jones Newswires chooses Burlingame, Calif.-based NewsTakes Inc.
  • Chicagotribune.com, washingtonpost.com, ABCNews.com and CNETNEWS.com are among the finalists for an online journalism award program sponsored by the Online News Association and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
  
  
  
  

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Nearly 40 percent of Swedish consumers say advertising delivered by mobile phone is compelling and nearly 20 percent want more information after viewing the ads, according to a November study for Stockholm-based Ericsson and Mediatude, a London- and Stockholm-based mobile marketing company. The study of 5,000 Swedish consumers was conducted by Netsurvey, an independent research firm in Stockholm (The Digital Edge).

Smaller Web sites are selling ad space at "fire-sale prices" and even Yahoo has cut it's rates substantially, according to a December report by Internet analysts at Merrill Lynch. During the fourth quarter, rates for online banner ads fell 10 to 15 percent and rates for e-mail ads dropped about 25 percent (Reuters, 12/11).

Streaming media consumption reached an all-time high in November 2000 with 35 million Web users at home accessing streaming content, a 65 percent increase from 21 million users during the same month last year, finds Nielsen//NetRatings.

About 51 percent of all U.S. households have at least one mobile phone and 40 percent of U.S. adults use their mobile phones regularly, finds a February 2000 survey of 40,000 adults by Dataquest Inc. of San Jose (The Digital Edge).

The board that oversees the Internet's addressing systemÑthe Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and NumbersÑadded seven new domains to compete with the popular "com." The new suffixes are: "info" and "biz" for general use, "pro" for professionals, "name" for personal Web sites, "museum" for museums, "aero" for airline groups and "coop" for business cooperatives (The New York Times, 11/17).

The U.S. Copyright Office published a final rule in the Federal Register that would give companies the right to limit access to their content when it's offered over the Internet, making it illegal for Web users to hack through the barriers that copyright holders erect around books, film, music and other content released online. The rule will be in effect for three years (ZDNet.com).

The Supreme Court will decide whether The New York Times, Newsday, Time Inc., and other publishers violate freelancer's copyrights by putting their articles in electronic databases. Freelancers argue that newspapers and magazines paid for the right to publish the article in their printed versions but not electronically (AP, 11/6).

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African Americans with Internet access take advantage of its many uses, including job information and e-mail, according to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. More African Americans are online now than ever before, according to the Pew study, which found the overall African American population online is 7.5 million.

The Kelsey Group of Princeton, N.J., estimates the value of wireless advertising and transactions will grow from about $210 million today to nearly $17 billion over the next five years (latimes.com).

Men, 18-34, who regularly access the Internet, spend 32 percent of their total media consumptionÑor 12.2 hour weeklyÑonline compared to 12.1 hours watching television, 9.9 hours listening to radio, 2.1 hours reading magazines and 2 hours reading newspapers, according to a study by Copernicus Marketing Consulting and Research for ESPN.com (The Digital Edge).

The average salary for Web editorial is $70,600, according to a September Internet salary survey by The Industry Standard (thestandard.com).

The percentage of online U.S. households using a cable modem or DSL connection has risen from five percent to 11 percent in the last six months, according to Statistical Research's fall 200 edition of "The Home Technology Monitor" (The Digital Edge).

--Compiled by Lisa Rabasca, Presstime Staff Writer.