Yahoo Says It Is Backing Away From TV-Style Web Shows

NYTIMES.COM: After proclaiming grand plans to bring elaborately produced sitcoms, talk shows and other television-style programs to the Internet, the head of Yahoo's Media Group said yesterday that he was sharply scaling back those efforts. He said the group would shift its focus to content acquired from other media companies or submitted by users.

The executive, Lloyd Braun, the former chairman of ABC Entertainment, was the subject of speculation in recent weeks that he was leaving Yahoo over differences with its chief executive, Terry S. Semel.

Mr. Braun said yesterday that he had called a meeting of his group tomorrow in Santa Monica, Calif., where he would outline the new strategy. He said Mr. Semel would attend to endorse it.

"I thought it would be a good time, given all the rumor and innuendo, for me to reiterate once and for all that I am not going anywhere," Mr. Braun said.

Yahoo said Mr. Semel was not available for comment yesterday, but Daniel L. Rosensweig, the company's chief operating officer, said, "We are very happy with Lloyd, and Lloyd is very happy with Yahoo." Mr. Braun acknowledged some differences with Yahoo's management — his initial budget requests for this year were rejected, he said — but he dismissed that as normal corporate back-and-forth. And he said he had been engaged in a discussion with Mr. Semel and others at Yahoo's corporate headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., about his revised strategy for the media group, which includes Yahoo's news, sports, finance and entertainment sites.

"I didn't fully appreciate what success in this medium is really going to look like," he said. "This is not about creating one-off hits like in my old business. That is not going to create a sustainable competitive advantage over the long term."

With advertisers moving large parts of their budgets online, the market for content, created by professionals, bloggers and individual users, is expanding rapidly — as is the competition. Major media companies are developing video-based programming for the Internet. Myspace.com, purchased last year by the News Corporation, has become a major site based on user-contributed content. Many start-ups, like youtube.com, seek to follow suit.