Google Agrees To Pay Italian Publishers For News

Google announced on Wednesday it has signed licensing deals with
numerous Italian media publishers to pay for news content, in the
US tech giant’s latest move to tamp down media anger over lost
advertising revenue.

It follows an agreement struck with some French publishers
earlier in the year over “neighbouring rights”, which were
introduced by an EU directive two years ago and call for payment
for showing snippets of news content as part of internet
searches.

Wednesday’s deal will give the Italian publishers access to the
Google News Showcase programme, which sees it pay outlets for a
selection of enriched content.

“Signed on an individual basis, these agreements represent an
important step in Google’s relationship with Italian publishers by
remunerating the publishers,” Google said in a statement.

Google News Showcase will be available in Italy in the coming
months, it added.

Fabio Vaccarono, CEO of Google Italy, said “these agreements
represent an important step forward and confirm Google’s commitment
to Italian publishers”.

Among the publishers who signed deals were the RCS MediaGroup,
Il Sole 24 Ore, Monrif, Citynews, Caltagirone Editore, Il Fatto
Quotidiano, Libero, Il Foglio, Il Giornale and Il Tempo.

The head of Il Sole 24 Ore, Giuseppe Cerbone, said “remuneration
for news, including the rights related to the distribution of
digital content, is a front on which our publishing group is
engaged on the front line”.

Urbano Cairo, CEO of the RCS MediaGroup, said “we are pleased to
have signed this agreement, which governs the issue of related
rights and acknowledges the importance of quality news and the
prestige of our titles,” which include the Corriere della Sera
newspaper.

Neighbouring France was the first EU country to enact the
“neighbouring rights” law, but Google initially refused to comply.
However after turbulent negotiations, the search giant sealed a
deal with certain French publishers in January.

News outlets struggling with dwindling print subscriptions have
long seethed at Google’s failure to give them a cut of the millions
it makes from ads displayed alongside news search results.

Australia has aggressively pushed to force digital companies to
pay for news content, and last month Google struck a deal to make
“significant payments” to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

Google announced on Wednesday it has signed licensing deals with
numerous Italian media publishers to pay for news content, in the
US tech giant’s latest move to tamp down media anger over lost
advertising revenue.

It follows an agreement struck with some French publishers
earlier in the year over “neighbouring rights”, which were
introduced by an EU directive two years ago and call for payment
for showing snippets of news content as part of internet
searches.

Wednesday’s deal will give the Italian publishers access to the
Google News Showcase programme, which sees it pay outlets for a
selection of enriched content.

“Signed on an individual basis, these agreements represent an
important step in Google’s relationship with Italian publishers by
remunerating the publishers,” Google said in a statement.

Google News Showcase will be available in Italy in the coming
months, it added.

Fabio Vaccarono, CEO of Google Italy, said “these agreements
represent an important step forward and confirm Google’s commitment
to Italian publishers”.

Among the publishers who signed deals were the RCS MediaGroup,
Il Sole 24 Ore, Monrif, Citynews, Caltagirone Editore, Il Fatto
Quotidiano, Libero, Il Foglio, Il Giornale and Il Tempo.

The head of Il Sole 24 Ore, Giuseppe Cerbone, said “remuneration
for news, including the rights related to the distribution of
digital content, is a front on which our publishing group is
engaged on the front line”.

Urbano Cairo, CEO of the RCS MediaGroup, said “we are pleased to
have signed this agreement, which governs the issue of related
rights and acknowledges the importance of quality news and the
prestige of our titles,” which include the Corriere della Sera
newspaper.

Neighbouring France was the first EU country to enact the
“neighbouring rights” law, but Google initially refused to comply.
However after turbulent negotiations, the search giant sealed a
deal with certain French publishers in January.

News outlets struggling with dwindling print subscriptions have
long seethed at Google’s failure to give them a cut of the millions
it makes from ads displayed alongside news search results.

Australia has aggressively pushed to force digital companies to
pay for news content, and last month Google struck a deal to make
“significant payments” to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.