Rumor mill: Murdoch plans strike against Google with Microsoft
According to media reports, media mogul Rupert Murdoch wants to team up with Microsoft to launch a counteroffensive against Google and the "free culture" on the Internet that he has criticized. Under this plan, Murdoch's media outlets could distribute information exclusively to Microsoft for a fee.
Initial talks with the world's largest US software company have already explored whether Murdoch's media group News Corp could in future provide its news exclusively and for a fee via Microsoft's Internet pages and its search engine Bing, the British business newspaper Financial Times reported on Monday. Microsoft is also in contact with other major publishers and wants to persuade them to remove their digital content from the search engine index of arch-rival Google, it said.
The controversial media entrepreneur has repeatedly blamed the internet and, in particular, the search engine operator Google as a news distributor for the current media crisis. Murdoch had also recently pursued plans to block content from his group online and only make it accessible for a fee.
Microsoft is currently likely to be interested in anything that could put the software company and its new search engine Bing in a better position than arch-rival Google. Microsoft's new search technology has received a lot of positive feedback, but Microsoft has not yet managed to seriously compete with Google. Exclusive news content could significantly increase the appeal of the new search engine. Nevertheless, some industry observers doubt that the media groups could actually reach a deal with the software manufacturer in this form.
The controversial media entrepreneur has repeatedly blamed the internet and, in particular, the search engine operator Google as a news distributor for the current media crisis. Murdoch had also recently pursued plans to block content from his group online and only make it accessible for a fee.
Microsoft is currently likely to be interested in anything that could put the software company and its new search engine Bing in a better position than arch-rival Google. Microsoft's new search technology has received a lot of positive feedback, but Microsoft has not yet managed to seriously compete with Google. Exclusive news content could significantly increase the appeal of the new search engine. Nevertheless, some industry observers doubt that the media groups could actually reach a deal with the software manufacturer in this form.
