Newsonomics: Seizing The Brexit-Trump Moment, The Murdochs Bid For Sky

No surprise, in this age of rampant private gain over public interest, that Rupert Murdoch has re-emerged. Like a boxer who can be knocked about the ring and to the mat but never knocked out, Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox, now makes a new bid for a company he has long sought to control:... ...

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Newsonomics: Will the Phone Companies ‘Own’ the Internet?

In 1982, the AT&T consent decree seemed like the last word. That’s when the Department of Justice used the nearly-century-old Sherman Antitrust Act to force the break-up of Ma Bell. No longer could one company – for a long-time considered key to the national interest, a next-gen Post Office ...

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With Yahoo Win, Verizon Sidles up to Google, Facebook

Those legions of followers in the old Verizon “Can you hear me now?” ads (now hijacked by Sprint) seemed to be coming for your ears, but it turns out they wanted your eyeballs. In an anti-climactic announcement expected Monday morning, Verizon will make it official that it has finally nabbed ...

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Newsonomics: Five Numbers That Show Why Yahoo is the Zombie Planet of the Internet

Planet Yahoo, a prominent feature of the early stages of the digital solar system, is imploding, soon to fade into the history of celestial internet bodies. It’s been a slow fade, even as some expected the sale of Yahoo’s core assets – its websites – today, on a quarterly earnings call. Yahoo ...

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What Does Verizon Want With Yahoo?

When you’re the 15th biggest business in the U.S., you don’t need to execute deal gymnastics like the Reverse Morris. Verizon can leave that tactic to others (like Cerberus-controlled YP Holdings, which may use the technique as it teams with Goldman Sachs to pursue Yahoo) as it bids for Yahoo’s ...

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Yahoo: Who’s Ready To Take On A Legacy Digital-Native Media Turnaround?

Which picture would you like to see on the wall of digital media history alongside that all-time classic, Time Warner’s Jerry Levin half-smile as he brought new partner, AOL chief Steve Case, into the fold as the companies completed their $160 billion merger in 2000?       As ...

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Newsonomics: “Apple News Changes Everything” & 10 Other Headlines You Could See This Fall

Summer appears gone; prepare to mark the first day of fall in the traditional fashion, with a new set of announcements from Apple. On Wednesday, Apple will dazzles with new iPhones, a new Apple TV, iOS 9, and a few more reveals about Apple News. The event has gotten many in the media business ...

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Nine Takeaways from the Verizon–AOL Deal

It’s easy to quickly label yesterday’s Verizon purchase of AOL as one aging utility buying another. One superannuated phone company buying a web company that’s gotten long in the tooth. Two companies of slowing revenue growth looking for updated identities and finding ways to compete with ...

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The Newsonomics of Breakthrough Digital TV, from Aereo to Dyle and MundoFox to Google Fiber

Today, TV is no longer a box. Sure, even with all the Rokus, Boxees, and Apple TVs, it seems like TV isn’t yet an out-of-the-box experience. But with Hulu, Netflix, and Comcast’s Xfinity, it’s emerging quickly, escaping our fixed idea of what it once was — the boob tube in the living room. If ...

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Let’s Not Let That New-Fangled “Wireless” Thing Confuse Us

Google and Verizon, of all companies, know that it is the mobile web that's the big prize going forward. Choose your favorite metaphor. The Internet will be like water, like electricity, like air. For the next generation, it will just be there, accessible from anywhere at the touch of some ...

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