NWSA News Corporation

By Micah Maidenberg

News Corp said it struck a deal with Google under which the search giant will pay it for content, an agreement that comes as lawmakers in Australia consider having technology companies and publishers negotiate over payments.

News Corp said Wednesday the three-year deal also covers the development of a subscription platform, advertising-revenue sharing via Google's ad technology services, and efforts related to audio and video journalism.

The media company said the deal calls for a range of its publications in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia to be featured in the Google News Showcase.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google parent Alphabet Inc., said in a blog post last October that the Showcase product allows participating publishers to package their stories in "panels," allowing them more control over their content.

"This approach is distinct from our other news products because it leans on the editorial choices individual publishers make about which stories to show readers and how to present them," Mr. Pichai said.

News Corp is the parent company Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of the Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, one of the publications that will be featured in Google's Showcase product. Others include Barron's and the New York Post, the Australian and the U.K.'s the Times publication.

Specific financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. New Corp said the deal will include "significant payments" by Google.

Don Harrison, president of global partnerships at Google, said the News Showcase product allows "publishers to curate content for an enhanced online news experience. Today's agreement with News Corp covers a wide range of our products such as News Showcase, YouTube, Web Stories, Audio and our ad technology."

Last year, Google said it reached deals with some publishers to license their news content. In 2019, News Corp launched an aggregation service meant to address concerns the Google News product doesn't reward work from publishers.

Google and Facebook Inc., meanwhile, have said that the effort in Australia to potentially require publishers and technology companies to effectively bargain over payments for news would set an unmanageable precedent as the internet is based on the free sharing of links.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2021 10:34 ET (15:34 GMT)

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