In a recent story, published by Financial Times, Microsoft is considering paying Print Media Outlets for use of their content on their newest search engine Bing. This move would force the Print Media Outlets that take the offer to remove their content from Google. If Microsoft is successfull in this move, assuming that they do in fact move forward with it, Google may be forced to pay similar media outlets for their content, creating a content war within the Print Media. You could see some high values paid for the content from the major news sources. While Rupert Murdoch’s New Corp seems to be a part lead in this against Google…..I wouldn’t count them out for taking the money if Google made them a higher offer than Microsoft and Bing.
Microsoft is on this for one reason, and one reason only….they want to hurt the deep pockets of Google. Google is claiming that their news results bring in little revenue. I doubt that. That is just postering to make it seem like this move isn’t going to effect them.
If Microsoft can court the top 5 Print Media Outlets in the country, then I think the Google News section could be doomed, as well as how the income they bring in from the search matches for the content.
Not sure where Yahoo fits in all this. It seems like that are taking a back seat right now to see how this plays out before they jump in with their thoughts.
With so many newspapers struggling in the current economy, it seems that this might actually breath some life into that industry. Keep your eye out for a bidding war…this could get interesting.