Newsflash: Yahoo! Now Partnering with AT&T

No sooner than we had written the previous post, we saw this in today’s Advertising Age. At yesterday’s presentation before advertisers, CEO Terry Semel announced that Yahoo! “is working with AT&T domestically on its IPTV program.” Perhaps that helps explain our previous post on a Yahoo! VP dismissing network neutrality concerns.

Semel appeared at what Yahoo! called its “infront,” a online advertising version of the well-known bazaar where television time for the next season is first sold. We think such “infronts” are just another indication of how much of the business model for the new media is based on the dynamics girding television. It will be all about brandwashing on behalf of the largest global advertisers, but propelled by sales of each of us on a “one to one” basis.
Sources: paidcontent.org

“Yahoo Woos TV Media Buyers at its `Infront.” Claire Atkinson and Abbey Klaassen. Advertising Age. Feb. 14, 2007. subscription required.

Author: jeff

Jeff Chester is executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. A former journalist and filmmaker, Jeff's book on U.S. electronic media politics, entitled "Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy" was published by The New Press in January 2007. He is now working on a new book about interactive advertising and the public interest.

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