By silicon.com, 8 September 2006 09:30
NEWS
As the countdown begins to silicon.com's seventh annual Agenda Setters poll of tech's 50 most influential individuals, it is time to look back at those who held top 10 positions in 2005. Today we catch up with last year's number eight, Rupert Murdoch.
Murdoch's 75th year on the planet has been quite an eventful one and one which suggests his days of Agenda Setting in the technology world may not yet be over.
For all the talk about social networking and user-generated content, it's yet to become clear which business models will thrive in the web 2.0 era - and within that uncertainty remain questions about Murdoch's plans for MySpace, which he acquired last year for $580m.
We should expect to see Murdoch's enterprises put some flesh on those bones this year and certainly MySpace has received a decent write-up in a number of News Corp's newspapers, helping to fuel the public's enthusiasm for the site.
And Murdoch's media ownership, from The Sun newspaper to Fox News and Sky television means his influence in all matters should never be underestimated - nor is it rivalled, for that matter.
Owned by News Corp and run by Rupert's son James Murdoch (also a 2005 Agenda Setter), BSkyB in the UK has made its move into home broadband and the coming year looks to be one that will see the organisation lock horns with BT over broadband and IPTV as well as taking on the combined might of NTL:Telewest in a reinvigorated market.
The past year has also seen film studios making a greater play for online distribution models such as downloading - and you can bet 20th Century Fox will be there or thereabouts claiming its slice of that pie in the coming year.
But how many hands does the old Aussie warhorse have left to play before he gives over the reins for good? After rumours and a few aborted bouts of succession talks it is an absolute certainty that will happen one way or another in the next few years.
Still, for now we're willing to bet The Dirty Digger will make the list once again - and we wouldn't be surprised if he hit the top 10.
silicon.com's Agenda Setters panel, made up again of CIOs, analysts, VCs, consultants, lawyers, academics and other experts, convenes in September with the results revealed at the end of the month. If you want to pass on your comments for our experts - about Rupert Murdoch or any other contender - drop us an email at editorial@silicon.com.
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