Murdoch: Estimates Conservative $1 Billion In News Corp. Internet Revenues By 2010; Not “Knocked Out

Without any additional internet acquisitions, News Corp. can achieve a “conservative” $1 billion in internet revenues by 2010, Rupert Murdoch tells Newsweek. That includes anticipated revenues on an estimated $1 billion investment to add broadband for DirecTV; that hasn’t been announced officially. From the interview, which probably is best viewed as part of a series of comments designed to assuage investor concerns about News Corp.’s innternet investments:

– Murdoch describes the current video download deals as “very small-time at the moment” and doubts hgh levels of interest in long-form small-screen viewing or paying $1.99 for portable device downloads. “But how many people really want to get video on a tiny screen when they already have TiVo or a similar service from their cable company or DirecTV?”

– He’s more affirmative about short mobile downloads. “Soon we’ll be downloading the funniest joke of the week in “Family Guy.” People will be sitting in bars and holding up their phones and laughing. It’ll be a pretty serious piece of revenue for us someday, probably. We’ll be into all these things, some quite original and some of what others are doing.”

– “MySpace will be a much richer site in six months. We expect to come in with video. People will put video upâ

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