Tech giants 'close' to handles Australian media
Google and Facebook are "very close" to deals with major Australian media to cover news, a top government official said Mon, as being the tech giants scramble to avoid landmark regulation.
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said talks with Facebook CEO Tag Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai had made "great progress" in resolving a standoff being closely watched around the world.
Australia is poised to look at legislation that would force digital companies to cover news content, a thing that would create a worldwide precedent and, according to Facebook and Google, wreck what sort of internet works.
The firms have threatened to partially withdraw solutions from the united states if the guidelines become rules, sparking a war of words with Canberra.
But that disagreement seemed to convenience Monday, with Frydenberg showing consumer broadcaster ABC talks with the firms "made great progress during the period of the weekend".
"I think we're very close to some very significant commercial offers," he said, "and in doing in order that will transform the domestic media landscape."
The agreements could possibly be enough to see Facebook and Google avoid the most serious elements of the legislation -- including binding arbitration to make sure they are not utilizing their internet marketing duopoly to dictate conditions in deals with media companies.
Pursuing Frydenberg's remarks, SevenWest Mass media, owner of broadcaster 7Information and The West Australian newspaper, announced Mon a new agreement for its content to come to be hosted on Google's News Showcase product.
The Sydney Morning hours Herald reported the first major manage a sizable Australian news organisation was worth a lot more than Aus$30 million (US$23 million) a year.
SevenWest chairman Kerry Stokes said it had been a "great final result" and hailed the government's focus on its press bargaining code as "instrumental in the results of the ground-breaking agreement".
The firm will join several smaller localized publishers on News Showcase, which Google said had received more than one million views since launching in Australia eight days ago.
Frydenberg's comments suggest major Australian mass media organisations, such as for example Rupert Murdoch's Information Corp and Nine Entertainment, could possibly be near to reaching similar deals.
A Google spokesman said the business was in discussions with publishers both "large and small" while a Facebook spokesperson said the firm had been negotiating to "land commercial discounts that reflect the professional value of news content material on our platform".
News teams worldwide have observed their businesses ravaged by the loss of advertising us dollars that once flowed to their newspapers but are actually overwhelmingly captured by the big digital systems.
A large number of journalists' jobs have already been lost and numerous outlets forced to close found in Australia alone in the last decade.
Source: www.daily-sun.com
