As I was reading about CBS’ $1.8 billion purchase of CNET on MarketWatch.com, I couldn’t help but remember when CBS purchased MarketWatch.
Today, MarketWatch is owned by Dow Jones. And Dow Jones, of course, is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Meanwhile, you have Norman Pearlstine (previously head a top honcho at Time Inc. and the Wall Street Journal) hired by Bloomberg, another online powerhouse.
The common denominator: Online is where many, if not most, people are getting their news.
This implies several things:
1) The continued deterioration of newspapers, and possibly soon, of magazines.
2) An acceleration of the massive shift of advertising from traditional media to the Web.
3) A growing recognition by TV powerhouses like CBS that the Internet is no longer just a vanity play or a way to promote their shows. It’s a major piece of their future revenue as viewers fly from TV to the Web.
