Tribune To Drop AP Wire Service Within Two Years

This story was written by David Kaplan.

The Tribune's statement added: "Our newspapers choose from a wide variety of sources for content, including AP. During the next two years, our newspapers will continue to work with AP, but also will consider options to content currently being offered by the news cooperative. This decision has absolutely no immediate impact on our newspapers." A day before the Tribune's announcement, I spoke with Lee Abrams, the Tribune's chief innovation officer, what he thought of offerings of websites like Politico, which is positioning itself as something of a wire service by providing coverage of Washington, DC, as part of its new ad network. He said he didn't know enough about what Politico was doing to comment specifically. He also said he wasn't aware as to whether or not the companies are talking. However, he did say that Tribune COO Randy Michaels was going to be looking into deals with other websites and syndicators. More on the recent AP defections after the jump.

This summer, six papersMinneapolis' The Star Tribune, Idaho's The Post Register, The Bakersfield Californian; and three Washington State dailies, The Yakima Herald-Republic, Wenatchee World and the Spokesman-Review all gave the AP notice that they wanted to end their contracts within two years. Under the terms of most of its agreements with newspapers, the AP must be given two years notice before a wire service contract is ended. Some industry observers have noted that some papers have been issuing termination notices as a way to renegotiate better terms with AP as they try to find ways of reining in expenses. Still, a number of of the newspapers who have given notice deny that they are simply trying to get a better deal.

The tension between the AP and some of its members erupted last spring, when, after years of debate, the AP began offering members details of its forthcoming U.S. pricing model. The AP claimed that members would get back $21 million under the new Member Choice plan when it goes into effect on Jan 1, 2009. In addition to an estimated $13.6 million in assessment reductions, members would be eligible for an additional $7.5 million in rate reductions through the news gathering organ's Content Enrichment program. But the additional fees that would come with access to some stories on an a la carte basis have left a small, but vocal portion of the AP's 1,500 members confused and outraged. The AP says that the a carte feature is a small part of a wider package of options, adding that the option is about making the premium content available to members who don't want to pay for the whole service. This way, members can still get access to AP stories and have the chance to reduce their costs. More details on the AP's plan is available here

By David Kaplan