ZD Selling Again: Leo Laporte Was Right
Earlier this year, my friend, Chris Lee's, Leoville Town Square Podcast got a lot of publicity becuase of a statement former TV/current podcast star Leo Laporte made that he was still bitter about ZD selling their TV operation to Paul Allen and Vulcan Ventures. In addition, this was the grounds for Laporte not appearing on his former co-host's own ZD program, DL.TV. Later debate on TWiT between Patrick and Leo defined lines between the two (Leo all but chastising Patrick and John C. Dvorak for going back to ZD). Many believed Laporte was just being stubborn with these statements. Well, no more.
CrunchGear's John Biggs is reporting that ZD is (once again) trying to sell one of it's own. Reportedly, Ziff's "Consumer Small Business Group" is up for sale which includes 1UP.com (my favorite gaming site), but also PC Magazine (of which former TechTVers Jim Louderback, Patrick Norton, Robert Heron and John C Dvorak are all featured in), and also presumably ZD's podcasting operation and Patrick's own DL.TV video podcast.
So, what does this mean for the operation. Pat should have listened to Leo here. Even if a buyer is found, nobody can tell what they would do. Many remember the violent consequences when Comcast purchased TechTV. Either way, it would seem independent is the way to go.
