If News Corp.'s plan is to make My Network TV compatible with any Internet-enabled devices--including cell phones, portable game devices, even the PlayStation 3--then it will have securely locked-in
(for the time being anyway) the upper hand in the race to reach technology-empowered consumers, says the
Hollywood Reporter's Diane Mermigas. With My Network TV, News Corp. is looking for new
ways to develop content more cost-effectively while reaching a wider audience through backward compatibility with other media platforms. Mermigas says News Corp., more than any other big media
company, has demonstrated an "intelligent vitality" to transfer its content to new-media and make that new content a launch pad for entirely new products and services. Clearly, she says, News Corp.
intends to merge My Network TV with MySpace, making it an extension of the enormously popular social networking site that is dictated by consumers' shifting attitudes, interests, and needs.
Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen forecasts that because of News Corp.'s recent efforts, digital businesses will account for 9 percent of earnings growth and more than 20 percent of
cash flow growth for the media giant by 2010.
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