• Time, Thursday, February 12, 2009 11:45 AM

Content, once a king, is now a pauper, according to Time. As little as six months ago, movies, TV shows, magazines, radio broadcasts and high quality Web content were all viewed as having a significant intrinsic value, but that value has deteriorated markedly since then. Because of this, media giants like News Corp., Time Warner, The New York Times Co., and CBS have all been asked to write-down tens of billions of dollars in assets. And just yesterday, a Wall street analyst downgraded both Yahoo and Time Warner.

Part of the problem, according to the Time report, is that content value is tied directly to the recession. However, accountants, by asking these companies to write down their assets, are essentially saying that TV shows, movies, magazines and newspapers will never recover all of their value. Media, in other words, is going through a drastic shift.

Meanwhile, though some content has been boosted by Web distribution, these gains aren't enough for media companies to cover the value lost by the deterioration of their primary businesses. Just look at Google's enormously popular video sharing site, YouTube, where virtually all of the content is free. Visitors do not watch advertising or pay a fee. Even Hulu, which offers ad-supported, professionally produced video content, doesn't offer the kind of yields needed for media companies to continue producing expensive content. So, even after the economy improves, many content owners will struggle to recoup their lost value.

Read the whole story at Time »