Other Media Companies Look To Join Murdoch's Google Block

Other media companies are looking to follow the lead of Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp., which has been in talks with Microsoft to feature its content exclusively on its Bing search engine, thus removing links to its news stories from Google. Today, Bloomberg reports that those looking into the Google-block include newspaper publishers MediaNews Group and A.H. Belo Corp. MediaNews, which publishes The Denver Post, among other papers, said it will block Google from searching content behind a pay wall once the pay structure is unveiled for its papers in Chico, Calif. and York, Penn. next year. Still, there is still a conflict between not wanting to let nonsubscribers see paid content while still reaping the benefits of Google's traffic to news sites. Said MediaNews CEO Dean Singleton: "The things that go behind pay walls, we will not let Google search to, but the things that are outside the pay wall we probably will, because we want the traffic." A.H. Belo, which publishes The Dallas Morning News and The Providence Journal, also told Bloomberg that it would block Google from searching parts of its sites after a planned pay wall is erected. But although other content providers seem interested in emulating the great Murdoch, how serious is News Corp. about these Google blocking plans anyway? BusinessWeek points out today that Murdoch's negotiations with Microsoft might just be a way to gain the upper hand while renegotiating a deal with Google over MySpace ads. The deal, which gives Google sole control over search and ads on the News Corp.-owned site, is set to expire next year, and MySpace is no longer as attractive to advertisers as it once was since its been surpassed in traffic by other social networking sites like Facebook, BW said. News Corp. Joined By Rivals Considering Pulling Out of Google --Bloomberg News Corp.'s Talks With Microsoft: A Flawed Deal? --BusinessWeek Earlier: MediaNews Set To Launch Pay Walls Next Year (Photo via flickr)

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Other Media Companies Look To Join Murdoch's Google Block

Amanda Ernst

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