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Monday, November 23, 2009

Report: News Corp Considering Removing Content From Google

By Ken Sweet

FOXBusiness

Media giant News Corp. (NWSA) has held discussions with Microsoft (MSFT) about a partnership that could result in News Corp. removing its newspaper content from Google's search engine while continuing to feature it on Microsoft's online properties, according to a report in Monday's Wall Street Journal.

It remains unclear how Microsoft might compensate News Corp. for the content, and negotiations between the companies were said to be in the very early stages.

News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has been outspoken in his criticism of Google’s (GOOG) lack of payment to content providers.

News Corp., the parent company of FOX Business, is one of the largest producers of news content in the world, publishing the Wall Street Journal, the U.K.’s Sun and the New York Post, among other properties.

The Financial Times first reported the talks between News Corp. and Microsoft on Sunday.

According to the Journal and the Financial Times, the current skeleton of the deal would have News Corp. delist, or remove, its content from Google’s search engine and move it exclusively onto Bing. It’s unclear if the deal would include News Corp.’s film and entertainment content as well, the Journal and FT reported.

News Corp. is not the only major content provider to express frustration over Google’s aggregation and free dissemination of content. The non-profit Associated Press has also expressed their concerns to Google, while newspaper companies like The New York Times (NYT) have considered “pay walls” to boost falling revenues.

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