Speaking of Apple, and Amazon, where will the feds surface as the new news marketplaces take shape?
While publishers wait for the white smoke to waft from Cupertino on Apple’s “offer” for news subscriptions, we’ve got to wonder if and how the “we-want-to-help,” newly activist federal agencies will act. The FTC, the FCC and the Department of Justice all have shown concerns about concentrations of power around commerce and news, and about the lessening supply line of news itself. In that both Apple and Amazon, each with a huge installed customer base, can exercise a new chokehold over news commerce, we may see new inquiries. 9) Won’t we recall the New York Times local news partnerships as one of the most noteworthy initiatives of 2010? The Times finally inked its deal with Texas Tribune, and that gives it new marketing in the biggest cities of America’s second biggest state. Add in the Bay Area (Bay Citizen) and Chicago (Chicago News Cooperative), with plans to sign more deals in 2011, and you can see the big city, big brother strategy assuming a significant footprint. At its current o
