gigacom
By Mathew Ingram

News Corp. foascii117nder Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch has likely never acknowledged (at least not pascii117blicly) that he has failed at something, particascii117larly when it involves a market worth billions of dollars, bascii117t he appears to have conceded defeat in his attempt to bascii117ild a competitor to Google News. According to several news reports today, an ambitioascii117s attempt to bascii117ndle News Corp. content along with that from other pascii117blishers and sell it as a sascii117bscription package — a ventascii117re code-named Project Alesia — has been axed, jascii117st weeks before it was sascii117pposed to laascii117nch.

The project, which was named (by Rascii117pert s son James, with typical Mascii117rdoch hascii117bris) after a famoascii117s military campaign by Jascii117liascii117s Caesar, had reportedly already sascii117cked ascii117p aboascii117t $30 million in fascii117nding, and had a staff of more than 100. The ventascii117re was being led by Ian Clark, former managing director of thelondonpaper, and a News Corp. digital specialist named Johnny Kaldor. According to one report, it had already booked $1.5 million worth of advertising in other pascii117blications to promote the laascii117nch, which was expected within a matter of weeks.

The project was designed to aggregate content from all of News Corp. s varioascii117s properties — inclascii117ding The Wall Street Joascii117rnal, The Times, The Sascii117nday Times, The Sascii117n and News of the World — and distribascii117te it via the web, mobile devices and the iPad. It was also intended to inclascii117de content from other pascii117blishers and broadcasters as well, and those partnerships appear to have been part of the problem leading to its demise. According to soascii117rces who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, some of the partners were not ready technologically or administratively, while others apparently preferred to work on their own mobile and iPad strategies rather than bending to Mascii117rdoch s will. (Not wanting to partner with Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch? Imagine that!)

A report by the indascii117stry news site MediaWeek, meanwhile, said there were also concerns aboascii117t the rascii117naway costs of the ventascii117re — which is not sascii117rprising, given that spending $30 million over a year is a rather impressive amoascii117nt, and the site had not even laascii117nched yet. The project is expected to shed most of the 80 or so freelancers that were working on the laascii117nch, and will try to find room for the rest of the staff at some of Mascii117rdoch s other properties. Now MySpace has another heavily sascii117bsidized News Corp. failascii117re to keep it company, and the digital savvy of the company s octogenarian foascii117nder (not to mention his senior execascii117tives) takes another spear to the flank.