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News Corp. Expands Its Online Strategy
(AP) News Corp. Expands Its Online Strategy
By SETH SUTEL
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK
Ross Levinsohn, the Internet chief at News Corp., told investors Tuesday the company was considering teaming up with a partner in sponsored search as it expands its online strategy.
Levinsohn, speaking at a media conference sponsored by the UBS investment bank, said it was still unclear whether Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate would acquire an Internet search provider or form a partnership with one. He said the company was hearing proposals from several parties, including Quigo Inc.
Search, which enables computer users to find information by entering keywords, remains an element to be added to News Corp.'s growing array of online media assets. These began with the $580 million acquisition this summer of the owner of social networking site MySpace.com.
Levinsohn revealed some other details of News Corp.'s online product, which Murdoch has indicated is the next key growth area for the conglomerate that owns the Fox broadcast network, the 20th Century Fox studio, and Fox News Channel.
Levinsohn said News Corp. would begin producing Web-only episodes next year of the hit Fox show, "Family Guy." They would be accessible mostly on the show's own Web site but also be promoted on IGN, a gaming site that News Corp. acquired. He said there would likely be an advertising component, but it was unclear what form it would take.
Meanwhile, MySpace is continuing to build up its music business, launching a record label and signing its first band. Music remains an "absolutely critical" component of MySpace's business going forward, he said.
Asked about opposition among some MySpace members that emerged after the site's purchase by News Corp., Levinsohn said the company was being "pretty careful" about preserving the freewheeling culture of MySpace, noting that it has continued to expand even after its purchase by News Corp. and now has some 40 million users.
Levinsohn said the company is considering how to sell advertising on the space without detracting from the experience of people who use the site to build their own personal pages, where they can post photos, link to friends' sites, cite their interests and expound their opinions on various topics.
"It only becomes commercial if you inundate them with advertising," Levinsohn said. "I don't think we'll ever get to a place where we could kill it. The minute we put something up people don't like, we hear about it," he said.
"That site was built by its users -- we just give them the tools," Levinsohn said.
In his presentation, Levinsohn, who grew up in northern New Jersey, likened the experience of young people going to MySpace to what going to the mall was when he was growing up.
"For today's youth, this is where they hang out."
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