Google launches key deal with Australian media giants

Google was in a much-publicized conversation with the Australian government in recent months over a bill – the News Media Bargaining Code – that would force Google to pay news publishers for stories that appear in Google search queries. The conflict has almost turned into a confrontation, with Google at one point threatening to pull the search completely out of Australia if forced to pay for news links and excerpts offered by Google Search.

Now, after a Senate committee last week recommended that the bill be passed by parliament and become law, Google seems to be taking a more conciliatory approach. On Tuesday, he signed a deal worth more than AU $ 30 million ($ 23 million) a year with Nine Entertainment, a media giant and one of the biggest lobbyists for the Media Code. The deal was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, one of the many news houses Nine owns.

This comes days after a similar agreement with Seven West – another Australian media unit that, like Nine, owns properties in TV, radio and printing – signed an agreement with Google, and that it is also worth about $ 30 million is.

This is big news for the major publishers in Australia, which could lower lucrative deals with Google and Facebook. But this is likely to be bigger news for Google, which could be forced to ink similar licensing agreements with media companies around the world. A Member of the European Parliament CNET said last week he hopes to integrate similar measures to those in the Australian Media Code into future legislation, and a Canadian minister cited Australia’s example as a reason to pressure Google and Facebook to pay publishers in his country.

“If Australia manages to pass the law and show that it works, it could set a precedent for others,” said Daniel Gervais, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, “for Canada, New Zealand and maybe others. ”

Show show time

If enacted, the News Media Bargaining Code will give Google and Facebook 90 days to reach licensing agreements with qualified Australian publishers for the news content that appears on Google’s search and Facebook feed. If no agreement is reached, arbitrators appointed by the government will give a binding decision on how much and how the technicians paid. Google was concerned that it could pay for Google search links, which they said would abandon the principles of open internet.

Transactions with Australian media companies are underway Google News Display, a global initiative by which Google has committed $ 1 billion to news publishers. Stores that join News Showcase are paid to provide a compiled list of stories that appear in Google News programs. Apart from Australia, News Showcase is live in the UK, Brazil, France and Germany.

When News Showcase was launched in Australia in early February, the seven publications originally subscribed received between AU $ 200,000 and AU $ 2 million (US $ 150,000 to US $ 1.5 million) from Google. When Google asked Nine at News Showcase earlier, Nine failed. “This is what monopolies do, they make an offer in the form of Google Showcase, but do not offer to negotiate,” a Nine spokeswoman said in early February.

What changed then? Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google Parent Alphabet, allegedly had ‘constructive’ talks with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. But because the News Code is more likely than ever to become legislation, it seems that the prospect of paying news sales for Google search links was too expensive a risk to run for the technology giant.

“Google is desperate not to pay for news delivered by their search engine,” said James Meese, a senior lecturer in media studies at RMIT University in Melbourne. “They seem to be paying more than the market value to secure transactions that specifically exclude Google Search.”

Fair for everyone

Although the Media Code is said to stand in the name of supporting public interest journalism, there are concerns that it will benefit media giants like News Corp unequally, making it harder for smaller publishers to compete. . The Media Code aims to balance the bargaining power gap between publishers and large technology, but some are concerned that it does not address the bargaining power gap between large and small publishers.

‘These transactions [with Nine and Seven] shows that larger media companies clearly have more bargaining power, “Meese said. It’s important to watch the code roll out to make sure smaller businesses can get a fair deal. “

This is an issue that governments around the world will uphold if they decide to follow Australia’s precedent. It already appears in France, reports ABC, because many independent stores have been left out of a $ 76 million deal between Google and APIG, a group representing 121 French publishers.