Suck

for 25 June 1996. Updated every TUESDAY.



	Publishers Clearinghouse meets your local
	cable provider ...on the Web!

	Allow content providers to charge for
	product by pretending ITV has already
	arrived. "Netwerk makes the net work!"

	Self-described new media "journalists"
	hope to someday be more than charity
	cases of big media conglomerates out to
	stake out a parcel of cyberspace in
	anticipation of rising land values...
	but, with too many content providers
	chasing too few ad dollars, outfits like
	Songline Studios are pulling up stakes
	and pulling the plugs rather than
	bleeding green waiting for the big cash
	transfusion. While the economic principle
	of increasing returns works well for
	net-based software companies, original
	programming on the Web has both high
	fixed costs, given the requirement to pay
	salaries for managerial, engineering, and
	editorial staff, and high variable costs,
	necessitated by the use of freelancers
	for regular updates of content. Content
	providers need to provide for another
	revenue stream outside of the one
	wistfully promised on their
	heavily-discounted rate cards, but
	consumers are resistant to pay and play
	when both the cost and the effort to
	subscribe remains high.



	Enter Netwerk.com. Netwerk makes the net
	work for both the producer and consumer
	of new media products. Where ex-Microsoft
	Works product managers hatch crack-baked
	schemes to charge more for Slate than
	*what you'd pay for a real* magazine**
	subscription, Netwerk provides dozens of
	publications at one low, low cost,
	conveniently billed on your monthly
	Internet service provider's statement.
	Through a national toll-free number,
	consumers order a complete netainment
	bundle - local dialup access, and a
	webzine package of their choice - with
	FREE installation for a three-month
	committment. (Installation includes a
	browser pre-loaded with the appropriate
	cookies for the consumer's media
	choices.) Packages available upon
	introduction of the service could include
	The Happy Mutant's PlayPak (HotWired,
	Spiv, and Stim); The Reader's Literary
	Compendium (FEED, Salon, and Slate);
	Tree-Hugging for Businessmen (The New
	York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and
	Pathfinder); and Pornocopia (Penthouse,
	Playboy, and Hustler Online).

	Like stone soup or Trip Hawkins' 3D0,
	a smooth-talking pitchman could easily
	create a lucrative pyramid scheme with no
	product and even less money down. Hungry
	content providers desperate to see any
	source of income, and national ISPs, such
	as Netcom or PSInet, in dire need to cut
	announcable deals in order to keep their
	stock price afloat, make for a ready
	environment for a bold two-man strategic
	acquisitions team. 1-888-NETWERK can be
	obtained to provide toll-free, national
	service, and aggressive direct marketing
	can be performed by Midwesterners calling
	during Seinfeld and reading from prepared
	sales scripts.

courtesy of "Team Player"