Rupert Murdoch, once an internet skeptic, is now bullish on the prospects of internet in bringing more revenues.

Rupert Murdoch, the head of one of the worlds largest me-dia conglomerates, News Corp., is in a dilemma; digital dilemma to be precise. His traditional media businesses-newspapers, television and film businesses-are up against a monster in the form of the Internet, which is fast emerging as a medium of its own. The rapid rise in the advertising revenues on the Net has made Murdoch, once an Internet skeptic, along with other media companies accept it as the future. Asserting this Murdoch said, "I dont think theres any doubt that the internet is going to improve out of sight when we get better telephone services. It is going to be used more for information and entertainment. It is going to affect newspapers; it is going to affect television.

However, it is interesting to note that he has been in this situation before; when Internet was first born in the mid-90s. During this time, Murdoch adopted a wait and watch policy. He limited his websites in the UK and Australia to promote his newspapers and publishing businesses. In the US, Murdoch created News America Digital Publishing (NADP), in 1999, to manage websites-www.foxsports.com, www.foxnews.com,www.tvgen.com (TV Guide Entertainment Network) and www.foxmarketwire.com (Business). He also started an Internet solutions providing division called News Internet Services, which was also looked after by NADP. However, Murdoch was more interested in wireless and broadband technologies than the Internet. This was evident from the fact that his websites were way behind the websites of rivals such as Time Warner and Walt Disney, which featured among the topmost visited websites. This attitude of Murdoch surprised many as he was one of the early players in the satellite television industry.

However, things changed by 1999. Murdoch was forced to join the Internet revolution as his competitors were aggressively pursuing Internet strategies. They were either starting their own divisions or holding minority stakes in dotcom companies to have their presence on the Internet. Further, dotcom companies were ruling the roost with investors heavily investing in their stocks. In January 1999, News Corp. too joined the bandwagon by entering into a promotional and marketing deal with Yahoo! to promote Fox Television and its properties such as cable stations and Internet sites-Twentieth Century Fox film studio, Fox Sports Net, FX Networks, Fox TV, and Fox Music.