"Vijay Times (Bangalore, India) looks at outsourcing content on a entire page basis. The newspaper wants to ensure constant variety & change - by outsourcing entire pages from content to layout & presentation. This will restrict the role of the editor to approving the (outsourced) pages before going to print."

While it is true that no major newspaper has adopted the page outsourcing approach, (except for occasional, one-of supplements - and this is despite the huge savings in staff costs), don't they already outsource news from agencies like Reuters, AFP ? Along with features from a host of Feature Syndicates? So, is it that far-fetched for a newspaper to consider 'outsourcing' entire pages? Then again, is news reported by each (competing) newspaper significantly different? Or is emphasis & depth of coverage the chief differentiator? Coupled with presentation? And finally, what is the core business of today's newspaper?

The ASP/MSP Model and Core-business Functions
The Application or Managed Service Provider (ASP/MSP) Model first surfaced around 7 - 8 years ago, when the number of live web-sites suddenly increased exponentially. It started by some large enterprises contracting with outside firms to develop & manage their entire web infrastructure (off-site), and then giving individual employees & business constituents the right to access that infrastructure remotely.
The next logical step was to ask the outside firm to maintain the software & infrastructure. (After all who would know better than the developer how to optimize the solution?) Soon, people were thinking of alternatives to traditional software applications. Thus the ASP Model was born.

The first ASPs were companies that delivered business application software over the web. All of the application logic and data in an ASP was stored at the vendor's data center. ASP customers would access all application functions over the web, typically using nothing more than the web browser.

For the client, it was not a bad proposition : no software to install, no hardware to install, and no direct maintenance costs !

Today, the ASP model is ready for content management & delivery.

The business justification of the ASP model is straightforward - the ASP model plays on the fundamental tension between core- and non-core business functions. Most businesses remain very good at a small handful of business functions - called the "core business". Anything not related directly to it may be a candidate for outsourcing to another company. The idea that your back office is someone else's front office was applicable to businesses even a century ago.

Core Business of The Newspaper : A Historical Perspective
Let's examine a newspaper publisher's core business. A typical turn-of-the-century newspaper publisher would have seen its core business as "creating a newspaper." Naturally, the publisher first built (and then maintained) a printing press. Perhaps the publisher would have considered becoming an indentor for newsprint/paper and ink. And perhaps this may have extended to ownership/stakes in paper mills ? And further to owning forest or lumber mills that form raw material for paper ? Still further . . .

A century ago. While newspaper publishers would not have considered owning forests or lumber mills as a part of core business, they certainly did include printing as core business.

Half a century ago. Many newspaper publishers started outsourcing printing to established presses. Because they realized that they weren't in the business of creating newspapers but that of creating content. So they focused on building news gathering staff and editorial services while outsourcing the "non-core" printing & delivery by contracting with independent printers and distributors.
                                     
A few decades ago. Newspapers started using the service of third party agencies like Reuters, AFP, API to outsource the latest news content. Adding their own inputs for embellishment & emphasis.

Today. Newspapers are realizing that they are not in the content business, but in the business of creating a brand which aggregates local audiences (via content of common interest) which is sold to advertisers. Naturally, they will more & more, outsource the non-core functions of content creation & printing - to focus efforts on the core business of managing their brand (by ensuring readership) and selling newspaper ads.

Outsourced Content Management, Technology & XML
Today's technology permits state of the art content management, multiple rendering and near-instant updation. And there are various projects that are already underway which use such "future-proof" technology.

For example, the entire newspaper page can be created and stored as an XML document complete with news stories, editorials, photographs, graphics, and advertisements.
And XML being a strucured database, will permit searches by keyword, date, author, genre, page name/number, etc.
This XML document may be instantly rendered in any format like PDF/Postscript, HTML, etc.

The definition of "core business" changes with time - as much because of available third party services & technology as because of changes in public mindset.