AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

More On Fox Digital Media: Buying Beliefnet, Expanding Mission - paidContent.org

As we explained last night, Fox Digital Media is expanding its role within News Corp., (NYSE: NWS) starting publicly with the acquisition of Beliefnet completed Tuesday morning. FDM, led by Dan Fawcett, now becomes, in essence, an owner and operator, of sites it develops and acquires; it also will be creating a central team to work with Fox web sites currently organized by linear channel (Fuel.com, Speed.com, FX.com). For those trying to make sense of the difference between FDM and Fox Interactive (besides a value in the billions); think of it this way: FDM is all about Fox—if it’s content driven and supports Fox brands, or, as Fawcett put it in an interview, it can be parlayed between Fox companies, it goes with FDM; FIM has everything else.

Fawcett explained the changes during a joint phone interview with Steve Waldman, co-founder and
Editor-in-Chief: “We’ll be involved in having a centralized team that serves the network sites. Also, we’re looking at developing additional online sites and other vertical segments that present market opportunities for us.” Does this mean FDM is shopping? “We’re always interested in opportunities.” For now, the focus is on organizing the current sites and integrating Beliefnet. This means a larger staff for the group that until now was the smallest with a president—it might be still—but Fawcett added, “I have no intention of trying to create a huge centralized bureaucracy.” He also shied away from any language that suggested FDM would be running the network sites or overseeing them, instead stressing “involved.”

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