Australia’s Nine Reaches Agreement With Google Media As Licensing Laws Approach

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Publisher and broadcaster Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd has agreed to a content licensing agreement with Google, one of its newspapers, the second major Australian media outlet to strike a deal with the internet giant, reported on Wednesday. The Alphabet (NASDAQ 🙂 Inc-owned company agreed to pay Nine more than A $ 30 million a year for its content, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, citing “industry sources.” The agreement would be formally signed in the next two weeks, the newspaper said. A spokeswoman for Nine declined to comment to Reuters. A Google spokesperson also declined to comment. Nine would be the second major Australian media company to reach an agreement with Google as the country’s parliament prepares to pass laws giving the government power to set Google’s content fees. On Monday, Nine’s rival Seven West Media Ltd said it had reached a deal that local media reported would also involve the US company paying it AU $ 30 million a year. The Australian federal government has said it still plans to vote on the laws, which effectively oblige Google and the social media giant Facebook Inc (NASDAQ 🙂 to reach agreements with media companies or set fees for them, in the upcoming weeks. Seven smaller media companies, specialty websites and a regional newspaper signed agreements to have their content appear on Google’s “Showcase” news platform last year, but the country’s major subway media were unable to reach agreements. Several large national media players, including Rupert Murdoch’s (NASDAQ 🙂 local News Corp arm, which owns two-thirds of Australian newspapers, have yet to announce deals with Google. A News spokesperson was not immediately available for comment Wednesday. Media around the world are trying to find a way to make up for falling advertising revenue, traditionally their main source of revenue, which has led to widespread shutdowns. In January, the Reuters news agency, a division of Thomson Reuters (NYSE 🙂 Corp, struck a deal with Google to be the first global provider of news for the Google News Showcase.

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