In other posts we’ve discussed the possibility that online news could be soon be placed behind a paid subscription format. We’ve also looked in more depth at the paid content concept.
Both formats and concepts have progressed to another level with News Corp and Microsoft recently holding discussions regarding the future of online news.
Microsoft, owner of internet search engine fledgling Bing, have been discussing the possibility that Bing may become the only search engine able to crawl Rupert Murdoch’s site.
Under the plan, Google search engine spiders would be barred from indexing these sites with exclusive access being extended to Bing. Google would have to de-index all content from these sites.
Both Bing and News Corp stand to win from the situation. Bing would have exclusive access and if a sufficient number of other media companies jump ship to Bing, the whole search engine world could be seriously shaken. Bing currently enjoys 10% of the search engine market with Google in the mid to high sixties. News Corp could start to pave the way for a paid content format under the new plan and it is rumoured that Microsoft has already approached other leading publishers.
Both companies declined to comment.
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