Updated: In a doubleheader announcement meant to move the needle on Rupert Murdoch’s ambitious paid content plans, News Corp has acquired the Skiff e-reading platform from the Hearst startup and is joining forces with Steve Brill and Gordon Crovitz through a stake in their start-up Journalism Online.

The Skiff acquisition is strictly the e-reading platform and IP, not the device, suggesting an end to that aspect. Murdoch has said in the past he was interested in an e-reader or tablet but each time the idea was downplayed by other News Corp (NSDQ: NWS). execs; the company isn’t changing course now. The e-reading platform was designed to work across devices, not only on Skiff’s own hardware, and plays to News Corp.‘s increased efforts across platforms. News Corp. owns the name; Hearst is still trying to sell the hardware.

As for Journalism Online, it is my understanding that News Corp. will have roughly the same stake as previously undisclosed investors Jim and David Ottaway and co-founders Crovitz, Brill and Leo Hindery, Jr. (The former newspaper publishers sold their chain to Dow Jones before it was acquired by News Corp.) Jon Housman, newly appointed president of News Corp.’s digital journalism initiatives, will take a seat on the board. No financial details; the investment isn’t large enough for News Corp to disclose.

It’s unclear exactly how the Journalism Online stake plays into News Corp.‘s expanding paid content plans or its vision of a news consortium but suggests that News Corp could focus on the role of subscription aggregator, pitching broad access to news beyond single-outlet subscriptions. The Skiff acquisition plays into that; Skiff already has some agreements in place. 

Brill and Crovitz told paidContent they see the investment as a vote in their own business, as well as support for the idea that publishers need additional revenue models. Brill explained: “It certainly gives assurance to any publishers that needed assurance we have resources for the long haul. It also gives assurance that News Corp went through a fairly vigorous due diligence process of our signing up affiliates and what we have achieved in building out our technology.” Crovitz stressed that the investment doesn’t change JO’s own strategy of encouraging publishers to determine the best approach to their markets and to be an “enabler” for those efforts.

Crovitz was Dow Jones’ top consumer publishing exec and WSJ when it was acquired by News Corp.; he still writes a column for the paper.)

It’s an interesting twist on Murdoch’s argument for paid content, finding ways to make money from others’ content as well as News Corp.‘s own—through aggregating and through JO if the business takes off. The startup has roughly 1,500 affiliates now; that number includes any publisher who has signed a letter of intent. The number of actual deployments is far smaller. Brill said about a half-dozen publishers are running JO’s Press+ internally with launch plans based on their own scales, adding “that process will be accelerating pretty dramatically through summer and fall.”

Update: Hearst’s official statement: “News Corp. is interested in Skiff as a component in its digital journalism strategy and we believe Skiff will be a good fit inside News Corp.” No explanation about why the platform wouldn’t fit with Hearst. The two companies are partners in mag JV Next Issue Media, which is having its own growing pains.

{/exp:get_graph} {/exp:tweet_quote}