Big media continues to buy their way onto the new media train

Old big media companies are clearly in a buying frenzy to stay fresh and current so that the millions of teens who have been sucked away by new media companies will consider them cool. Newscorp didn't have a chance against a company like Myspace if they were to launch a new social networking site. So what did they do? They dropped major cash to buy them out and is now the only big media company firmly planted in this new online craze. But online social networking isn't the only new media source attracting big media companies. Tom Freston, arguably the coolest media CEO in the industry in part due to his MTV days, is buying into the online games and entertainment source as well. Freston of course with the blessing of Viacom grand daddy Sumner Redstone shelled out $102 Million to swallow Xfire an online gaming company. This acquisition will give Freston's MTV group yet another vehicle to spread it's very addictive programming and create even more programming for home and mobile media devices. But Viacom isn't the only media company going by the “if you can't beat them buy them” policy. Time Warner late last year took a chunk of online mobile media company Glu Mobile, a privately held maker of games for cell phones. The company’s Turner Broadcasting also launched GameTap, an online subscription service that features classic arcade and console games like Pac-Man and Sonic the Hedgehog, last year. More....