UPDATE: OpenTable successfully sold 3 million shares in its initial offering Thursday at $20 a share–well above its target range of $16 – $18. The shares closed up nearly 60% in their first day of trading, to $31.89.
We’re a long way from the heady days of a decade ago when justaboutanything.com could go public almost before it launched and in spite of having no profits, few assets and no idea how to make money.
Good times. Read more »
So French president Nicolas Sarkozy finally got his three-strikes law. The French Senate voted 189 to 14 last week, in a session boycotted by the opposition Socialists, to approve de loi Création et Internet, ratifying an earlier, narrower vote in the National Assembly. File-sharing reprobates in France could now find themselves cut off from the Internet by up to a year if they’re fingered a third time for illegal downloading.
Getting the bill this far was no leisurely stroll down the Champs Elysee, however. In the government’s first attempt to get it through Parliament the bill was ambushed by the opposition in the National Assembly when the majority of members from Sarkozy’s own NMP party ducked the widely unpopular allowing a handful of Socialist members to send to an embarrasing defeat. Stung, the Sarkozy government vowed to try again and this time sparing no effort would be spared to make sure it passed.
In a particularly vivid example of the government’s determination, the Ministry of Culture arranged to have an employee of French broadcaster TF1 sacked on the eve of the vote for having the temerity to write his member of Parliament privately to urge a non vote on the bill. Read more »
Welcome to The Media Wonk blog. And a special welcome to former readers of Content Agenda (moment of silence), where the Wonk first appeared. As you may have heard, Reed Business Information, which owned Content Agenda, recently decided not to continue supporting the site. As I was the full-time editor of the site, they decided not to continue supporting me, either, and so I have “moved on,” as they say. This blog is my own doing.
Content Agenda readers will find much here that is familiar. But the emphasis will be somewhat different. Although I’m sure I’ll be commenting on developments in the digital media business, and linking to items of interest, my goal is not to attempt comprehensive news coverage. Rather, I’m hoping to focus a bit more broadly on the critical–if ad hoc–global restructuring of the knowledge economybeing wrought by digital technology. That means looking at how cultural products are created today, how they’re commercialized, the significance of their mutability as digital objects and the policy debate over their proper role in wealth-creation, democratic discourse and technological innovation.
I’m also very much hoping it won’t be a monologue. I know from my work at Content Agenda and my previous experience covering the media and entertainment industries that there are many folks more qualified than me to address those issues and I hope they find their way to The Media Wonk and weigh in with comments.
For now, though, The Media Wonk remains a bit of a work in progress. I hope to begin posting regularly here soon, after I’ve dealt with a few other life details. So please bookmark the site and I’ll see you soon… — PS
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