News Corp.

News Corp. late Wednesday evening announced a major shake-up in the MySpace executive ranks. With seemingly little warning, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta has stepped down after only seven months at the helm of the struggling social-networking site.

"Owen took on an incredible challenge in working to refocus and revitalize MySpace, and the business has shown very positive signs recently as a result of his dedicated work," said Jon Miller, News Corp.'s chairman and CEO of digital media.

With the expected launch next week of Apple's tablet computer, the commitment of major publishers is being watched closely. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that HarperCollins is negotiating with Apple for new electronic books specifically for the tablet.

The involvement of major content providers will play a critical part of any successful rollout of an Apple tablet, just as it did with the iPod and iTunes. While there have been previous reports of major publishers in discussions with Apple, this report is more specific about details.

New Features for E-Books?

The world is finally waking up to the full implications of Google's business, and they're not all pretty.

Leading the rebellion is News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, who is threatening to keep his newspaper content beyond the reach of Google searches. Murdoch wants to keep Google from reaping so many of the financial benefits of advertising placed adjacent to News Corp. content. He's being aided and abetted by Microsoft.

Sony Electronics, which has delayed the delivery of its electronic book reader, is hoping a deal with News Corp. will make it worth the wait for consumers. The companies sealed a deal Thursday that will enable Sony Reader users to view content from The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. The deal comes after reports that News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch was unhappy with the company's deal with Amazon.com for the Kindle.

The U.S. government is wading into deliberations over the future of journalism as printed newspapers, television stations and other traditional media outlets suffer from Americans' growing reliance on the Internet.

With the media business in a state of economic distress as audiences and advertisers migrate online, the Federal Trade Commission began a two-day workshop Tuesday to examine the profound challenges facing media companies and explore ways the government can help them survive.

Microsoft's decision engine Bing may get the push it needs to better compete with search-engine giant Google. News Corp., a global media company and publisher of several news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, and Fox, and online networks such as MySpace.com may pull its search content listings from Google and move them to Bing.

Microsoft's decision engine Bing may get the push it needs to better compete with search-engine giant Google. News Corp., a global media company and publisher of several news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, and Fox, and online networks such as MySpace.com may pull its search content listings from Google and move them to Bing.

Imeem's expected fire sale to MySpace shows that the plight of ad-supported streaming music services is worsening.

The free video site Hulu.com, which has been helping to change TV-watching habits, could undergo a change. On Wednesday, an executive with one of Hulu's parent companies suggested the popular video site could start charging for content next year.

Chase Carey, president and COO of News Corp., told the Broadcasting & Cable OnScreen Summit in New York City that the value of the content presented by Hulu isn't being served by a free-only model, and he hopes that it will evolve into a subscription model.

No Decision Yet

The leaders of two of the world's major news organizations said Friday that it is time for search engines and others who use news content for free to pay up.

The comments from Tom Curley of The Associated Press and News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch come as the media industry struggles in the Internet age. Many news companies contend that sites such as Google have reaped a fortune from their articles, photos and video without fairly compensating the news organizations producing the material.