News Corp., facing the lack of an Internet portal, a
"proprietary" search engine or popular Web site, "risks
cementing a laggard's reputation and missing out on business
opportunities for years to come" if the company does not
address its Web position, according to James Ledbetter of
the INDUSTRY STANDARD. The company's new-media division,
News America Digital Publishing (NADP), under the leadership
of Rupert Murdoch's 26-year-old son James, is forming a new
strategy with plans to make the division a "world-class
Internet business." Ledbetter writes that the company's
"strongest" Web approach "seems to be straight out of the
Murdoch playbook: push the sports." The Fox Sports site, at
www.foxsports.com, "plays heavily off the network's TV
personalities," while NADP execs "plan a Fox Broadband
service" that will "emphasize Web delivery of sports video
clips." NADP Exec Producer Scott Ehrlich: "We knew sports
was a big opportunity, so we broke it out, and the staff has
gone from four to almost 40." NADP has also made "several
lucrative offers" to "key players at other sports sites."
One exec at a rival sports division: "They compensated for
their late start by pushing the known salary scale, just as
Fox did in 1996 when setting up a news channel." But
Ehrlich predicts that the "crowded" sports Web field will
"narrow down to just ESPN and Fox" in "a few years." One
"major" player in Web sports calls that a "naive" statement,
and Ledbetter notes that Ehrlich's forecast "ignores" both
CBS SportsLine and CNN/SI.com. ESPN Internet Ventures Senior
VP/Programming & Production Geoffrey Reiss says News Corp.
is "ultimately going to be a huge player" but they seem
"more interested in trying to get across 'Here's Fox on the
Web,' as opposed to figuring what works on the Web, to
meeting the user halfway" (INDUSTRY STANDARD, 2/15 issue).
BUILDING BRIDGES: News Corp. will supply sports content
under the Fox name on a non-exclusive basis to broadband-
cable network Road Runner (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/17).
