News Corp pulls plug on ‘Project Alesia’

Having been apparently bullish about its aggregated news product when we covered developments just weeks ago, it appears now that News Corporation has pulled the plug on “Project Alesia”.

The aim was to pull news content together from a host of publishers with an access charge of around £10 per month. A launch before Christmas had apparently been on the cards. Content would not have been restricted to the UK, judging by reports just two weeks ago that the Columbia Dispatch (170,000 circ) had reported its involvement.

Word is that it has been canned for financial reasons, however some sources claim that not all News Corp brands were fully behind the initiative, let alone other, rival publishers. Given that much of the upfront investment was apparently nearly complete, the question remains can News Corp realise some return from this investment by selling all or parts to interested parties?