Google inks landmark agreements with Australian media giants – CNET [CNET]

Google has been in a highly publicized spat 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 surface in Google Search inquiries. The conflict almost turned into a confrontation, with Google at one point threatening to pull search out of Australia entirely if it was forced to pay for news links and snippets that Google Search provides.

Now, after a senate committee last week recommended the bill pass through parliament and become law, Google appears to be taking a more conciliatory approach. On Tuesday it signed a deal worth over AU$30 million ($23 million) per 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 many news properties owned by Nine. 

It comes days after a similar deal with Seven West — another Australian media behemoth which, like Nine, owns properties across TV, radio and print — signed a deal with Google, said to also be worth around $30 million. 

This is big news for Australia’s large publishers, who stand to cut lucrative deals with Google and Facebook. But it’s arguably bigger news for Google, which could be forced to ink similar licensing agreements with media companies around the world. A member of European Parliament told CNET last week he hopes to integrate measures similar to those in Australia’s Media Code into upcoming legislation, and a Canadian minister has cited Australia’s example as reason to push Google and Facebook into paying publishers in his country. 

“If Australia succeeds in passing the law and showing that it works, it could be a precedent for others,” said Daniel Gervais, professor of law at Vanderbilt University, “for Canada, New Zealand and perhaps others.” 

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If it became law, the News Media Bargaining Code would give Google and Facebook 90 days to reach licensing agreements with qualifying Australian publishers for the news content that appears on Google’s search and Facebook’s feed. If no deal is made, government-appointed arbitrators would hand down a binding decision on how much, and how, the tech titans paid. Google worried this could result in it being made to pay for Google search links, which it argued would forsake the principles of an open internet.

The deals with Australia’s media companies are being done through Google News Showcase, a global initiative with which Google has committed $1 billion to news publishers. Outlets that sign up to News Showcase are paid to provide a curated list of stories to appear in Google News apps. Apart from Australia, News Showcase is live in the UK, Brazil, France and Germany. 

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