Acquisitions: CNET to CBS, Ars Technica to Conde Nast

I've been on a hiatus. It caused by the fact that I've either been too drunk to type or it's been too hot to work.

In the last week, CNET was purchased by CBS for $1.8 billion dollars and Ars Technica was purchased by Conde Naste for $25 million dollars.

According to a Mercury News article, "CNET owns Radio.com and TV.com, sites that have appeal to a company that is one of the Big Three television networks and owns one of the largest radio networks." Meanwhile, Ars Technica fits nicely with Conde Nast's Wired.

CNET and Ars Technica writers and audiences will wait with bated breath to see if editorial changes will sully their sites. For now, the outlook seems much brighter for Ars Technica.

CBS
I love Wired magazine despite the fact that the Wired / Tired / Expired pages are tragically obsolete the second they hit new stands. However, I cannot appreciate CBS as a content producer. Strangely, it isn't the voyeurs on Survivor, or the second-rate acting on CSI Miami - it's the bloody Numb3rs guy with his self-righteous little afro.

I refuse to believe that an ethical science-type would slow down to patiently explain his theorems to a bunch of keystone cops, while a little girl waits scared at the bottom of a well. It angers me to see people who've never heard of Pythagoras, alter vast clouds of forensic data on super blinking mythical computers. And finally, I particularly dislike the "3" employed as a letter in the title of the show - proof that screenwriters lump mathematicians with programmers, gamers and weird kids who make words with their graphic calculators. Stylistically speaking, shouldn't the title of the show be Num83r5 anyways?

If a show's advertisements promote the lead character's intelligence, it would be nice to make it an intelligent show. Whether they are misjudging the intelligence of TV viewers, or whether they are simply mimicking other networks, CBS is guilty of producing glaringly remedial programming. Depending on CNET's willingness to follow editorial guidelines, the CBS acquisition could have extremely negative effects.

( Add your comments )

Recent Entries:
· The Rebirth of Hip-Hop? Right...
· Cloud Computing: The Buzz and Blur
· Spore: Inner Feelings from Outer Space

[ READER COMMENTS ]

(Note: separate multiple email addresses with commas)

Acquisitions: CNET to CBS, Ars Technica to Conde Nast

Add your comments...

We kindly ask that you keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Abusive or inappropriate comments or comments that are specifically promotional in nature may be removed.