Over at Search Engine Journal, Greg Sterling of The Kelsey Group wonders whether Rupert Murdoch is the new Barry Diller. After all, Murdoch has announced his intentions to get more involved in the interactive local media market and has hinted at a possible bid to buy a controlling stake in an Internet search company (think Diller and Ask Jeeves). Not only that, but Murdoch has already assembled the makings of a Diller-esque online conglomerate. Murdoch could face a bit of tough sledding, though, as he tries to make inroads into the online market:

"It only gets more competitive from here as search, portals, directories, newspapers, verticals, cable and local TV affiliates (and let’s not forget consolidated media empires) all compete for eyeballs and advertisers in the Interactive Local Media market."

UPDATE: Forbes says that News Corp. is in talks to buy Blinkx, a privately held Internet search firm.