Murdoch's "Digital Newsstand" is Belly-Up

I have followed Rupert Murdoch's "digital newsstand" idea for some time (see following previous posts for background:
http://johnaustinblog.blogspot.com/search/label/monetizing%20online%20newspapers
http://johnaustinblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/mobile-publishing-has-ticket-to-ride.html
http://johnaustinblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/digital-newsstand-how-magazines-will-be.html

Due to his wanting to control all the subscribers' list data demographics, and not even sharing this info with those newspaper publishers participating in his digital newsstand, he has not been able to generate any interest from other publishers in joining his online newsstand! Duh, I wonder why?

David Zax , of FastCompany.com, reports more intriguing details:

Project Alesia, one year and $30 million in the making, would have bundled online subscriptions to magazines and newspapers, but publishers weren't interested.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is ditching an idea one year and $31.5 million in the making: an online newsstand that would have bundled online subscriptions to newspapers and magazine. "Project Alesia," as it was called, is being abandoned for lack of interest among the publishers News Corp. had pitched.

Reuters' source says that Alesia is just on hold, but MediaWeek claims the decision is absolute: "an entire, dedicated News Corp U.K. operation being dismantled just days before a product was due to go on market." Over a hundred people were working on the project; most have been reassigned elsewhere.

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