Google News Showcase, a product designed to pay media outlets for content, is behind its intended U.S. launch by almost a year as negotiations have hit a snag and publishers await Big Tech legislation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The product has intended to pay publishers for curated content to get promotion on Google News and other Google platforms, driving traffic back to the publisher and potentially giving Google access to paywalled content.
Google News Showcase was released internationally, starting in Germany and Brazil before expanding to 18 countries stretching out as far as Australia and New Zealand.
U.S. publishers are reportedly balking at the price and contract terms, and sources say they want to wait until Congress weighs in on Big Tech legislation that might improve their negotiating position.
There are 1,700 publications signed up and Google continues to expand that number as it seeks "new and deeper partnerships around the world and, importantly, will power great experiences for people online," spokeswoman Jenn Crider told the Journal in a statement.
Some of the media outlets to have signed deals include Bloomberg Media, Reuters, The Texas Tribune, and News Corp, sources told the Journal.
Gannett is among the content companies to have balked, including reportedly turning down a $6 million-a-year deal and asking for $300 million annually, according to sources.
The Washington Post, which turned down a $5 million offer from Google, gets $15 million a year from Facebook's news product, the Journal reported.
In a move that could grease the wheels for deals, Shailesh Prakash, The Washington Post's Chief Information Officer, is leaving to become Google's general manager of News, Post CEO Fred Ryan told staff Wednesday.
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which is heading to committee in Congress this month, would allow publishers to negotiate with Google without violating antitrust law, the Journal reported.
"It doesn't make sense to accept a licensing offer that isn't informed by a fair, objective assessment of the true value of our content to the platforms," Gannett President Maribel Perez Wadsworth told the Journal. "The JCPA framework creates our best opportunity for a fair process."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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