NY Times Does Tickets Deal, Leverages Coverage

Here's a marriage of content and commerce that leverages the NY Times' theater expertise and following to deliver e-commerce revenues. In one sense it's a no-brainer, but in another it's a good model — where newspapers have content strength they can naturally extend into commerce.

I'm in Seattle today, and after postponement of a meeting with MSN, hiding out in the Rem Koolhaas-designed Central Public Library using free Wi-Fi and eagerly anticipating Verizon's impending launch of VCast and WiMax in the Bay Area, where I pay too much for high-speed Internet access.

The broadband drama used to be: Will it get to U.S. critical mass? Now that that question's over, the new one is: Will the private companies be able to hold on to their revenues or will municipalities turn broadband into a free public service?