• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 17, 2008

Joe Fiveash, executive vice president and general manager of The Weather Channel Interactive got the OMMA Publishing conference off on a disconcerting note, making the case that the Internet is undergoing the kind of fragmentation that have been hurting the major traditional media. Except he didn't call it fragmentation. He called it the “de-portalization” of the Internet.

By deep portalization, he means that the real growth in the online medium is coming from lots of smaller micro publishers that are eroding on the Big 3 portals' base.

The percentage of online usage that goes to the Big 3 fell to 27% last year, from 42% in 2002, he said.