• NY Times, Thursday, March 2, 2006 10:17 AM

Yahoo is scrapping its once grand plans to be a producer of television style programming on the Web, says Yahoo Media Group Chief Lloyd Braun. The group is now shifting its focus to acquiring content from media companies and users. This represents a major shift in attitude for Braun and for Yahoo, which brought in the former Hollywood executive to boost the company's original content offerings. Suggestions had been made in recent weeks that Braun was on his way out at Yahoo, but yesterday he called a meeting--with the endorsement of company CEO Terry Semel--that will outline the new strategy. "I am not going anywhere," Braun told The New York Times. He admits to having some difficulty understanding the key differences and nuances of the digital media business: "This is not about creating one-off hits like in my old business. That is not going to create a sustainable competitive advantage over the long term." Yesterday Braun said the way to keep users on Yahoo's site for longer is offer them ways to create their own content and look at content created by others--a la MySpace. Instead of focusing solely on creating original content, Yahoo plans to launch only a handful of new ventures this year. It won't be canceling current programming, like "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone" either, although plans for a revival of "The Runner," a reality concept Braun originally created at ABC, have been placed on the back burner. Instead, look for Yahoo to partner with big media companies in the near future.

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