A good story rounding up a report card on MySpace and other acquisitions in the Fox Interactive family. Couple of pieces of information: we have been covering MySpace’s imminent mobile operator deal in U.S….it will be announced in a week or two, and the story says it is Cingular, which makes logical sense. My guess is it will be tied with the Fox TV juggernaut American Idol, which will debut this season early next year…Cingular is a big sponsor of the show, and both parties, Cingular and American Idol/Fox will promote the bejuses out of this. Whether it will make any amount of revenues, that is questionable.
Also, IGN-owned Direct2Drive technology and destination site is close to more deals after expanding the site to include movies from its Fox unit and other studios such as Lionsgate and Starz. It is close to deals with Vivendi’s Universal Studios. Talks also are under way with Sony and Warner Brothers.
Then the question of management, something we have raised before: MySpace founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe are expected to stick around another year so they can qualify for their full bonuses. But will they remain there after that? Depends on how 2007 goes.