Murdoch/Gates Newspaper Venture

Bill Gates, the Microsoft technology tycoon, and Rupert Murdoch may take advantage of recent changes on the rules for cross-media ownership *(Government Makes Amendments To Broadcasting Bill) with the launch of a new newspaper entitled Equal. According to sources, the British newspaper is planned for launch on March 1 1997 and will be available twice weekly.

Equal will look at current developments in the media and technology markets. Daily versions on the Internet have been mentioned along with one-hour news programmes, based on the papers content, on BSkyB.

The launch would add to Bill Gates venture into journalism following the release of *Website Of The Week: Slate, the on-line magazine. However, a spokesperson from NewsCorp said the rumours were just speculation. Microsoft were unavailable for comment.

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