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I'm Fat, but No Idiot: Consumers Will Pay for News

By Caroline Miller, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 13, 2009 11:08 AM CDT

(Newser) – Media maverick (and Mavericks owner) Mark Cuban mixes it up with Newser's Michael Wolff, laying out his argument that consumers should and will pay for online content if it's packaged in a new way. Allowing as how he's fat, but hardly an idiot (as per Wolff's column yesterday, see link below) he uses an analogy of subscribing to his favorite kind of breakfast cereal on Amazon, getting a couple of boxes a month at a discount for his commitment.

Now that the price of handling mass amounts of data has "fallen off a cliff," the same can work for the right bundle of online content, he says. Case in point: For Rupert Murdoch, he recommends a News Junkies Subscription, which would give consumers access to every News Corp. site (other than the Wall Street Journal, which is an add-on), two books from Harper Collins, a subscription to the Weekly Standard, and a $99 credit at the Fox Store for DVDs, a $321 value for $9.95 a month.

[Images (5)]

[Quotes (1)]

FILE -- This is a March 1, 2003 file photo showing Dallas Mavericks head coach Don Nelson, left, listening as Mavericks owner Mark Cuban talks prior to the start of an NBA game against the Memphis Grizzlies... (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam, File)

FILE -- This is a July 13, 2009, file photo showing Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban looking at the scoreboard while eating popcorn and watching his team from the sidelines during an NBA summer league... (AP Photo/Laura Rauch, File)

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, center, and Mavericks fans celebrate after guard Jason Terry sunk a three-pointer late in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz in Dallas,... (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reacts as the Houston Rockets are called for a foul during the second quarter of a NBA basketball game Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008 in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban argues a call against his team while facing the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter of the Nuggets' 108-105 victory in an NBA basketball game in Denver on Friday, Nov.... (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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The biggest opportunity out there is for big companies to leverage their assets to re-intermediate their customers and develop direct relationships with them. - Mark Cuban

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 11 comments

vendetta

Aug 18, 2009 9:48 AM CDT

We wont pay for news anymore, if you cant understand this dinosaur newspapers then you are destined for the tar pits. If your business model no longer works, then change it. WTF would i pay for a 3 dollar newspaper that contains OLD news, gets ink all over my fingers, and is slanted because of who it caters to. Enough. The recording industry, the television industry doesnt get this either which is why their sales are in the toilet. ITs a new world, news is no longer controlled by a stranglehold of greed. News will suffer at first, there wont be alot of money to go around to pay for photographers, and trips to do stories, but that will pass because were all itner connected now, its easy to obtain media.

Snarfeh

Aug 15, 2009 4:03 AM CDT

And I *would* pay for some of what they're smoking....

Toon

Aug 13, 2009 9:18 AM CDT

Well if the news outlets follow Fox then people will have to pay for the news. If it's just Fox then people will be paying to maintain their ability to avoid facts.

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Mark Cuban • online newspapers • News Corp • Michael Wolff • paywall

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