The CEO of News Corp has revealed the media conglomerate is in talks with Google, Facebook and Amazon about getting them to cough up money for content.
Speaking to analysts yesterday following the release of News Corp’s first-quarter financials for FY19, Robert Thomson (pictured above) said the company was in “active negotiations” with the three tech giants about creating a content carriage fee for the distribution of its journalism, according to The Australian.
Furthermore, Thomson said News Corp is discussing a plan to make the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon pay publishers for print and video content with politicians and regulators in Australia, the US and Europe.
News Corp confirmed in July last year it was negotiating with Google and Facebook around fresh subscriptions for its online content.
Fast-forward to April 2018, and Facebook said it was hoping to roll out a subscription model trial for publishers in Australia later this year.
However, you’d imagine News Corp’s current negotiations with the tech giants are being done through gritted teeth, given the dossier of anti-competitive behaviours it listed against them in the publisher’s submission to the ACCC as part of the competition watchdog’s inquiry into digital platforms.