The Renaissance ushered in the kind of sweeping reforms across Europe that resulted in lasting intellectural and cultural change that scholars still talk about today.

Fast forward 500 years. The newspaper industry is undergoing a renaissance of its own that promises to change the way people get information.

I’ve said, in past blog posts, that those loud voices howling that newspapers are dying are as wrong as wrong can be. They are, certainly, changing, and how they confront that change will determine the future of the business.

We should find out, in the next 12 to 18 months, who accepts the challenge of change, and what steps they take to meet the challenge.

Here’s what could happen over that time.

E-readers will drastically shink in price, to a more realistic range of about $199. That will make it easier for newspaper companies to scale back their print and , cut their costs, and bolster the bottom line.

Some will go further.  They’ll enter into partnerships with cell or cable companies for information distribution. Each now provide bundles of services (cell, landline, ISP, satellite service); why not include information from your local news sources that can be display on your mobile device or on your television?

Companies that own more than one information outlet (newspapers, radio, television, cable) in the same city will start rapidly combining them into one operation that can provide news at a lower cost.  In cities with no such synergies, former competitors will merge their expertise and create new business models that generate profits.

And, here’s the big one — some newspapers will stop sending news to Google, reasoning that the mostly out of market referral traffic isn’t valuale to their local advertisers. These newspapers would rather control the information they produce, and bundle it through a digital subscription (mobile, online, e-reader, maybe a Sunday newspaper) that brings them more revenue.

Of course, I could be way off.

And, for all of those who asked, the hand injury feels a lot better. Thanks

I’m a digital media professional, and the views expressed on this blog are mine alone. For more digital media news and opinion, please read me at: www.raymarcano.com