"Media has become a platform of services," said David Liu, CEO of The Knot, during day one of Federation of International Periodical Publishers (FIPP) Digital Innovators Summit yesterday. During a session named, "Digital revenues: beyond the banner," Liu laid out how The Knot transformed itself from a handful of websites relying on national display advertisers for well over 50 percent of its revenues in the early 2000's to a network of over 280 sites with less than 20% reliance on display today.

UPDATE: Citibank has apologized to Fabulis. Here's the email here.

Citibank froze the bank account of the media startup Fabulis on Monday, due to "objectionable content" on Fabulis.com, according to Fabulis' CEO Jason Goldberg. 

Angel investor and serial entrepreneur David S. Rose asked the startups of the Incubator at Rose Tech Ventures, "Who owns a customer in today's world of Twitter, iTunes, Facebook and Google?" The debate that followed focused on the rise of APIs and marketplaces and their impact on business transactions. The conclusion? We are heading towards a world where no one owns a customer.

Rupert Murdoch, Sam Zell and Barry Diller have all laid out grand visions for the future of media, encouraging all to follow their lead. But smart companies would be wise to blaze their own trail rather than listen to these pied pipers. As last year's messiahs fall from grace, a new crop is emerging with such players as Tim Armstrong of Aol and Carol Bartz of Yahoo. Are any of these heavyweights capable of challenging Google's dominance?

Whether you have a $100,000 online business and are considering a $30,000 investment in a new website or a $10 million business looking into a $1.5 million redesign project, the discussion often starts with a question about the capabilities of the current content management system (CMS). Building a case for a new CMS can be daunting, since you are essentially trying to prove that an investment that could equal a year’s emedia profits will lead to explosive growth down the road.

One of the key challenges to implementing a subscription management system is answering executive questions regarding the system’s costs and its payback. These systems can be expensive (some going as high as the seven figures range), but their benefits are usually worth it. Here are the different ways that you can build an ROI model that will satisfy your CFO, CEO, and you company’s board of directors.