• The Age, Monday, October 23, 2006 11:30 AM

While the Australian media scramble continues, the biggest question is what the landscape will be for the next 20 years. Changes in the '80s established laws that determined the past 20 years. The new rules will settle the next 20.

"The Australian media and the companies involved are all in for a wild ride, a tumultuous time, perhaps even greater than the upsets of the '80s when every major media company changed hands and, ultimately, the big got even bigger--not at all what [the rules] had anticipated," notes the newspaper. And this time, the Internet has brought new dimensions and new players. Just like the '80s, a number of owners won't go away. Packer, Stokes and Murdoch are long-term, and will exploit the changes to their advantage. After all, the paper notes, that is what the free market is.

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