The Wall Street Journal
The Associated Press and Yahoo Inc. have reached a new licensing agreement that will allow the Web portal to continue to host AP articles, the two parties said Monday.The agreement could help define a core issue facing news organizations: How to deal with the Internet portals that help distribute their material but that some publishers say unfairly profit from their work.
The pact now shifts the focus to Google Inc., which has been the primary target of publishers unhappy with the way search engines use their material. Google's contract with the AP was set to expire last week. Google earlier had stopped hosting new AP articles on its news site, in case no new deal was reached.
Both Yahoo and AP declined to comment on the terms of the new deal. A Yahoo spokeswoman said Yahoo "will continue to enforce the strictest standards for AP's licensed content." AP said in a statement, "AP looks forward to deepening its partnership with Yahoo! as we and our members explore new opportunities and new ways to engage with audiences."
AP has been negotiating with Yahoo, Google and Microsoft Corp. to extend agreements under new terms that address some of news organizations' chief concerns. For example, AP has been developing a system to track how and where its articles, and its members' articles, are republished online, and it wants its Web partners to support that tracking system, according to people familiar with the talks.
AP also is seeking better financial terms from its Web partners, particularly as revenue from its member newspapers has shrunk, with more people seeking out news on the Internet and newspaper advertising down sharply.
People familiar with the talks said Yahoo had agreed to abide by certain guidelines for protecting content.
With some 1,500 U.S. newspapers as members, AP has considerable organizing powers in a fragmented industry. It is leading the effort to control how and where its members' material appears on the Internet, both on the portals' own news sites and in search results that send readers to AP articles on its members' Web sites.
AP has said it is trying to correct earlier agreements that gave Web portals access to a wide range of its online articles in a relatively inexpensive package. Those deals helped make the material ubiquitous, but AP executives say they also diluted the value of the offerings.
People familiar with the talks said Yahoo had agreed to abide by certain guidelines for protecting content.
With some 1,500 U.S. newspapers as members, AP has considerable organizing powers in a fragmented industry. It is leading the effort to control how and where its members' material appears on the Internet, both on the portals' own news sites and in search results that send readers to AP articles on its members' Web sites.
AP has said it is trying to correct earlier agreements that gave Web portals access to a wide range of its online articles in a relatively inexpensive package. Those deals helped make the material ubiquitous, but AP executives say they also diluted the value of the offerings.
