Old grabs new: CBS to buy Cnet

Old media giant CBS has been busy creating and buying content as well as making programming available online for some time now. If successful in taking over Cnet, they may well become to 2000 pound gorilla in the online content space.

“There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNET Networks,” said Moonves. “CBS stands for premium content and unparalleled reach, and CNET Networks will add a tremendous platform to extend our complementary entertainment, news, sports, music and information content to a whole new global audience. Together, CBS and CNET Networks will have significant additional exposure to the fastest- growing advertising sector and can accelerate our growth through a number of new content, promotion and advertising initiatives. We could not be more pleased with the prospect of adding CNET Networks and its tremendous team of people to the CBS family. I look forward to working with Quincy Smith, Neil Ashe and the considerable combined talent at both companies, as we build upon our success.”

Based in San Francisco, CNET Networks owns many of the Internet’s leading entertainment, news and information sites including CNET, ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com, UrbanBaby, CHOW, Search.com, BNET, MySimon and TechRepublic. The company, which reported significant profits in 2007 on revenues of $406 million, has a large international footprint, particularly in China.

Upon closing, CNET Networks’ sites will be combined with CBS’s stable of dynamic and growing interactive businesses. These include CBS.com, CBSSports.com, CBSCollegeSports.com, MaxPreps.com, CBSNews.com, last.fm, Wallstrip, MobLogic, CBS Radio and CBS Television Stations digital media platforms, and the distribution network of the CBS Audience Network, which is made up of more than 300 partner Web sites and reaches 82% of all online users in the United States. (Center Networks)

Making this work is not going to be easy. It could very easily turn out to be an AOL / Time Warner class fiasco. CBS’s news division is ailing and adding Cnet does little to improve that. Both share the problem of becoming too focused on agenda based reporting. While that may get cheers from journalistic and entertainment industry peers, it also disenfranchises audiences. Both are vertically structured, bloated and inefficient organizations. The web 2.0 world is all about being small and horizontal. Unfortunately I think the most likely result will be that the combination will be less successful than were the parts.