IAC's Diller sees opportunity in news online

By Michele Gershberg

NEW YORK (Reuters) - IAC/InterActiveCorp. (IACI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Barry Diller said on Monday he saw opportunities as news increasingly moves to the Internet from newspapers, and his company was close to announcing a new product.

He declined to give details, but said IAC was not interested in buying a U.S. newspaper publisher or individual newspaper.

"I actually think that there's going to be real opportunity in the conversion of print journalism to online, real opportunity, which I think very few people have attacked head on," Diller told the Reuters Media Summit in New York.

"We're doing it in our way from an original product creation at this point. I can't really talk about what we're doing because we're, I think, fairly close to announcing it," he said.

Diller said IAC's mix of dozens of different Internet properties working together is beginning to prove itself and the advantages should become clearer in a few years.

IAC is reshaping its retail segment, including the HSN home shopping network, and also aims to keep costs down for its LendingTree.com mortgage business amid a weak U.S. real estate market.

HSN is poised to narrow the gap with rival Liberty Media's (LINTA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) QVC over the next 18 months, Diller said on Monday.

The company recently saw profits grow with strong revenue from its Ticketmaster ticketing service business and online dating service Match.com.  Continued...