Media Firms Dig Into War Chests For Latest Assault on the Internet

Driven by fear of losing advertisers and audience to the Internet, large media conglomerates -- all your favorites like Viacom, News Corp. and Time Warner -- are spending billions in a spate of acquisitions and aggressive Internet initiatives, and are likely to keep on spending. Some hope to directly challenge the giant portals like Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. -- Web sites that serve as gateways to the Internet. Others are transferring some of their most valuable content to online sites, even though that risks alienating their traditional distribution partners. Although it's too soon to say whether the media industry's latest approach will bear fruit, the companies are finding some areas more fertile than others. They have been investing heavily in youth-oriented Web sites, like gaming, and less in areas like prime-time entertainment programming that is still a cash cow for the television networks. They're also mostly avoiding the pay-per-view model, which hasn't yet gained traction online.
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Julia Angwin julia.angwin@wsj.com]
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