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In case you didn't see Don Clark's piece in this morning's Wall Street 
Journal, check it out. For those of you who now subscribe -- and pay! -- 
for the WSJ online, the story is at 
http://interactive2.wsj.com/edition/current/articles/SB843447690376744500.htm

Microsoft has said it will back off on classified advertising, in deference 
to newspaper publishers, who would be impacted pretty severely should MS 
begin seeking classified ads on its own for the giant CityScape online city 
guide venture. Since MS wants newspapers as partners, it would seem, it was 
probably forced into this strategy. 

Other big news is contained in a sidebar: AT&T has scrapped its Home Town 
Network, which looked to be yet another big-bucks competitor for CityScape, 
CitySearch, Digital City, et al. Guess they figured out that the content 
business is not true to their core; plus the playing field in the city guide 
business was looking pretty crowded. The regional telcos still seem to have 
aspirations. In my part of the world, USWest is plugging away on a project 
called CityFocus. I wonder how long it will take the telcos to come to the 
same conclusion as AT&T, as significant media partners turn down their 
overtures and faster-moving companies speed ahead of them? Doing an online 
yellow pages is one thing, creating a CityScape/Digital City-like service 
is another that the telcos probably aren't equipped for. Comments?

In any event, newspaper publishers should be cheered by these developments.

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Steve Outing                                   Planetary News
steve@planetarynews.com                        Boulder, Colorado, USA
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        *Consulting services for the newspaper new media industry*                                      
                      http://www.planetarynews.com/
           Read my Stop The Presses! column on E&P Interactive:
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