<i>The web doesn’t hold much attraction for Rupert Murdoch who is now enamored with e-readers and tablets.<p>Tablets, according to those in the know, are being viewed as saviors for News Corp.’s core business: news and information. He thinks that since devices are not that useful without his content; he eventually wins because he will get people to win. “Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things electronic!” he recently said.</i><p>I think he's missing the point here.<p>a) Newscorp has flourished as a business because up until recently media has been an industry with a high barrier to entry. To paraphrase Warren Buffett, if you own the only newspaper in town it's a bit like owning a local monopoly. The same applies for television channels, etc. which have high upfront costs.<p>b) The problem facing Newscorp now is that the internet has lowered the barrier to entry dramatically, so that its size and financial clout is no longer a major advantage. For instance, would you rather read an article in a Newscorp paper or one of PGs essays? In the past it'd be hard for PG to get his essays out there, now it's much easier. This means a much higher level of competition, and competition destroys margins.<p>c) e-Readers/Tablets don't make the barrier to entry much higher. (You can publish stuff on the Kindle for free, for instance: <a href="https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin" rel="nofollow">https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin</a>). Hence it's hard to see how he can compete in the tablet/e-Reader space any better than he could compete online.