TV GUIDE CUTS CIRCULATION IN HALF

I didn't know that Business 2.0 has a blog until I came across this post on TV Guide:

TV Guide Gets Gunned Down By New Media
TV Guide, the couch potato's bible, is paring down its magazine from a circulation of 9 million to half that amount, and instead of 140 different regional editions it will publish just one national edition. Former TV Guide critic and uberblogger Jeff Jarvis weighs in: "This is the official end of the mass market."

This should come as no surprise since TV Guide's parent, Gemstar, makes all of its profits from electronic listings that it licenses to cable companies. (full post)

Yep. No surprise here. For my first startup, a video-on-demand company, we were very focused on our electronic program guide and thought that strategically it was important for capturing our audience and a gateway into other services and revenue streams. Gemstar, through it's aggressive patent strategy, did well to lock in and grow its market share. Of course everyone hated Henry Yuen (probably would have sued his mother if it threatened Gemstar's patent positions), its founder, for years and most were happy to see him fired in 2003 for SEC violations.

Anyway, I like the Business 2.0 blog, so I'm adding it to my blogroll. Erick Schonfeld, who's writing I enjoy, seems to be the sole blogger for the site.