>>Bill Gates did a damn good job in investing in MSNBC (they put in very, very little money), if that is what you are referring to.
Microsoft paid GE $220 million for half of MSNBC. Jack Welch is the one who did the good job here.
What does MSNBC offer that is differentiated from other cable services? Cable channels were a great idea in 1977. Now it's just a big free-for-all, with clearance issues and fractionalizing audiences.
If I want general news coverage there are several better sources, notably CNN. CNBC has better financial news. The Weather channel has better coverage. And sports...Sports?? ESPN, ESPN2, TNN, Prime, sports is endless. MSNBC is way too late to the party. Even News Corp has better global news resources, better than NBC's. Bloomberg is in the wings. I just point my remote and click.
Who needs MSNBC? MSNBC is a money pit. In spite of ABC's established news resources, the first thing Disney did after buying Cap Cities was scrap ABC's cable news plans, and ABC is the best cable channel investor and programmer (ESPN, A&E, etc) there is. Microsoft should pare back it's content dreams and stick to publishing competitive software products.
On the Web the menu is even broader, and includes all the above players, all the magazine publishers, most major newspapers here and abroad. Growing exponentially. MSNBC isn't in the top 10. If Netscape decided to offer news and features thru its website, it would blow away MSNBC in a Mountain View minute. |
