arlier this year, Terry Semel said that Yahoo! aimed to become a major distribution platform rather than a production company. "Think of us as a global network," he said. So, a recently announced partnership in Australia and New Zealand fits well into that idea.

Yahoo! and the Seven Network will combine their online, mobile and IPTV businesses in a new equally-owned joint venture. This launch should start in late January, coinciding with coverage of the Australian Open tennis tournament and the Winter Olympic Games. New consumer offerings will ultimately be available across online, mobile and broadband television in areas such as news, sports, entertainment, television, games, music, and travel.

The Seven Network is a large television company in Australia and magazine company publishing titles including Marie Claire, Better Homes and Gardens and Men's Health.

Yahoo! will become the key platform for the development of Seven beyond broadcast television and magazine publishing, as it builds its digital media division. Yahoo! is also the second major online portal in Australia, used by over 4.75 million Australians a month.

The rival Nine Network formed an alliance with Microsoft back in 1997, creating ninemsn, the most popular web site in Australia.