• Financial Times, Friday, March 30, 2007 10:30 AM

Media mogul and IAC/InteractiveCorp chief Barry Diller sat down with the Financial Times to discuss the current state of the media business, dropping his two cents on the News Corp.-NBC joint venture, Google, YouTube and Viacom, and other media developments.

Regarding News Corp. and NBC, Diller recalls the old saying that media doesn't want anyone else in control, adding, it's inevitable for traditional media companies to try and move into video with a degree of control. Diller thinks old media "to a degree will be successful" in video. More importantly, it will be able to establish (a presumably free) presence there. "Then you have the same effects that happen, probably with the music business." As for user-generated content, Diller says audiences will remain small, with "the occasional spike," because consumers will always retain an appetite for professionally produced, mass-media projects.

Regarding Google, Diller calls the Web giant "an impossible situation" without saying the company is in an impossible situation. For media companies, Google has a lot of traffic and technology that makes their lives miserable. Meanwhile, it purchased a company at fair value and has to compensate media companies fairly for using their content. "I think it is a very tough negotiation, handled by Henry Kissinger," he says.

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