Google agrees new AP deal

Michael Carroll | August 31, 2010

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The Associated Press has backed down from a fight to control where its stories are placed in Google’s search results and cleared the US firm to continue accessing its news content.

Google will be able to access AP news stories for at least two more years after agreeing to work with the news site to increase its online exposure and revenues bringing the curtain down on almost nine months of negotiations that had seen Google stop using AP content, WSJ.com reported

AP had sought more control over where its results ranked in Google’s searches as it looked to cash-in on growing online readership.

Paul Colford, director of media relations for AP, confirmed the deal in a brief statement yesterday.

“AP and Google will also work together in a number of new areas, such as ways to improve discovery and distribution of news,” Colford said.

The agreement sets a benchmark for the rest of the news industry, which has struggled to adapt to online publishing, WSJ said.

News firms are increasingly keen to control how Google and other Web portals handle their content, as they look to offset falling advertising revenues with cash from Web users.

Google settled a lawsuit filed by Agence France Presse in 2005 by licensing the wire service’s content in a deal similar to that with AP, Reuters reports.

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Michael Carroll