Back in January of '05, Murdoch felt that media consumption was changing-especially among the under-30 set. Two opportunities were not being seized upon by the established players: broadband and video. Broadband makes it much easier to get around the Internet with higher speed and aggregation, and video content is poised to play an increasingly important role in the web experience. We also knew that consumers-especially younger ones-wanted to be part of the experience rather than just passive viewers. This is something we all started seeing a year-and-a-half ago with the MySpaces of the world-Xanga, LiveJournal, IGN, and so on-so we targeted companies that were going to highlight that movement. We wanted to move in a way that was unique and would complement our existing assets-and we also wanted to make a statement to get us into the market. We found it interesting that you could spend no money on marketing or content and still MySpace was one of the fastest-growing sites on the Internet. That makes a company like ours sit up and take notice. With people reading more content over the Internet than they did 10 years ago, that must mean that other forms of content are falling off their radar screens. With this onslaught of consumer-generated content, we're wondering as editors how the mix is going to look five years from now. FULL ARTICLE @ ALWAYS ON

Mark Brooks: Englands LoopyLove was bought by Associated Newspapers (Daily Mail) in May. The UK's biggest commercial TV network ITV bought Friends Reunited back in December. Murdoch bought MySpace. Brits and Aussies. How about a USA media baron showing some love? Calling all media barons. The time is nigh. My top 'sleeping beauty' picks for acquisition targets are...

1. Cupid.com; for their unique radio affiliate marketing channel and speed-dating events network (radio loves events, so this helps keep the radio deals sealed)
2. OurStory.com; it's still early days for this lovable social network, but next year this one is going to be a winner
3. Date.com; Meir has done a great job of building a profitable dating site, and recently acquired Matchmaker.com
4. Mooble.com ; this social network needs a focus and a makeover but is currently available and is going for a song
5. World Dating Partners; vintacom has taken note of this new, fast growing niche dating network