Rupert Murdoch may have finally figured out what to do with Delphi, that little online service he bought back in 1993. Rather than try to outfox AOL and Prodigy, Murdoch has teamed up with MCI - News Corp's US$2 billion sugar daddy - to create a Web service combining Delphi's Internet-access chops with MCI's wide range of Internet services.
But Murdoch's most interesting move has to do with content: he tapped Anthea Disney, editor of the cash cow TV Guide, for the new Web service. Besides the obvious signal - TV is out, online is in - it's hard to imagine a more definitive commitment to the Web as a profitable media business.
Disney says this will be a service for the folks who read TV Guide - those unWired masses who want the Net to be as simple to use as a remote control. The site, which should be up by late fall, will include original content, lots of forums, and, of course, advertising.
"Technically, I bring about as much to it as Mickey Mouse," says Disney. "But we are collecting a group of new journalists who are really fascinated by the Web."
To see what's to come, head to www.delphi.com or www2.pcy.mci.net/venture/index.html.
ELECTRIC WORD
TV Guide's Net Loss
PGPfone: Zimmermann's Second Gift to the Net
