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PZollman@aol.com wrote:
>       Six months ago, it appeared that the local ISP business was becoming a
> commodity and a loss-leader. But now many of those media-based ISPs say they
> would recommend, even today, that other newspapers/television/radio stations
> (still) consider entering the business -- because the costs of technology,
> bandwidth and equipment have dropped so much, and the value of promotion
> (i.e., newspaper, on-air) has grown as the number of competitors in the
> marketplace has grown. 

An intriguing idea. But does this make strategic sense to most media
outlets? Most of them would probably say no: we're in the business of
providing the news, and not the infrastructure to deliver the news.

>From the perspective of an Internet professional who gets paid to
design, engineer, build, and consult on 'Net initiatives, this makes
little sense as well.

While the costs of actually purchasing the materials required may be
low, there are many ancillary costs -- sunk and recurring -- involved in
setting up, marketing and customer service/support, and maintaining an
ISP (never mind the costs of hiring and retaining knowledge outside
their core competence). These have to be recovered somehow -- a
difficult proposition for a commodity in tight markets, and a difficult
proposition for most newspapers here that are struggling to turn a
profit.

Lower costs of entry isn't necessarily very compelling unless these
issues are satisfactorily resolved.

You do mention that at least 150 newspapers offer ISP services through
InfiNet. I would wager that these fall outside the norm. But without
more info, I can't tell if this is the case.

To me, my original proposition -- partnerships -- makes more sense: it
has most of the benefits of DIY, and also leverages existing resources
(making it cheaper). But then, I'm biased toward my own opinions :)

Thoughts?

Julian
-- 
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