Reports: News Corp. Seeks to Remove Print Content from Google

23 Nov, 2009 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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In a move that could be a harbinger in the reduction of free copyrighted content on the Internet, News Corp. is reportedly in discussions with Microsoft to deliver its online newspaper content exclusively through the software behemoth’s nascent search engine, Bing.com.

Such a deal could bring to fruition News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch’s desire to eliminate the repurposing of newspaper content on Google and other sites without compensation.

It wasn’t clear if a deal with Microsoft would comprise News Corp.’s profitable filmed entertainment unit, which includes 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, according to The Wall Street Journal.

With newspapers reeling from the economic downturn and shrinking ad revenue and readerships, major print content providers such as The Associated Press and The New York Times have expressed frustration with free proliferation of their content online.

Indeed, Murdoch, whose News Corp. parent owns Fox News, WSJ and 175 major newspapers, hasn’t shied away in financial calls from attacking third parties that disseminate newspaper content on the Web for free.

Murdoch has openly called on newspapers to band together and prohibit their content from online proliferation.

Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker told the WSJ that the search giant has a “clear policy” of respecting content owners’ wishes.

“We believe search engines are of real benefit to newspapers, driving valuable traffic to their Web sites and connecting them with new readers around the world,” Stricker said.

The story was originally reported by the Financial Times Nov. 22.

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