Google Signs News Corp To ‘News Showcase’ Scheme

Alphabet and its Google division have achieved a notable signatory to its Google News Showcase scheme, with News Corp agreeing a three year deal.

Under the terms of the deal, News Corp will provide premium content for the Google News Showcase offering, in return for “significant payments” from Google.

Google in June 2020 had revealed its ‘News Showcase’ scheme, which launched as a way to compensate news publishers initially in Australia, Brazil, and Germany for the news they produce.

News Showcase

With both parties remaining coy about what the “significant payments” from Google will entail, it is worth remembering that CEO Sundar Pichai has already pledged $1 billion (£778m) over three years to the News Showcase scheme.

This Google agreement with News Corp, will include newspapers such as the Times, the Sunday Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Sun, Sky News (Australia) and The Australian.

The deal comes ahead of upcoming Australian legislation that would require Google to pay local publishers down under for linking to news articles.

Google earlier this month restarted the Google News Showcase in Australia, after it had officially paused the scheme in Australia last October, due to disagreements with the Australian government’s new law.

This pause was because the Australian government continued to press ahead with a world first rule change, that will legally force tech firms to pay local publishers for news and other content they utilise, or even link to, on their platforms.

If the parties cannot reach an agreement, a government-appointed panel will decide on the price.

Australia’s law is being strongly opposed by Google and Facebook, despite Australia touting the incoming law as a way to protect independent journalism.

Facebook last September bluntly warned Aussie users it will prevent them sharing local and international news on its platforms (including Instagram), if Australia presses ahead with this law.

A senior Google executive was a bit more forthright, and last month warned the Australian government that Google could remove its search engine from Australia over the matter.

Local agreements

But with the restarting of the News Showcase scheme in Australia, Google has been busy signing agreements with local news and content publishers.

And not just in Australia.

Earlier this week Google agreed to pay $76 million (£55m) to French news publishers under the terms of a deal struck last month to end a copyright dispute.

Under a framework agreement reached between Google and the L’Alliance de la presse d’information generale (APIG), a news publisher lobbying group, the tech giant agreed to pay $22m annually to a group of 121 national and local French news publications.