Apple News is a solid one-stop-shop for a variety of news sources and stories, but Apple wants to expand on that effort.
The idea is to offer a subscription service, which would allow readers to drop one monthly fee to access a variety of content. This would reduce the number of monthly subscriptions that some customers have. However, while Apple has pitched the idea as one of scale (there are a lot of iOS users out there), it sounds like some publications are still hesitant to sign up.
Per a new report from The New York Times:
“To persuade publishers to join the paid service, Apple executives have said the scale of Apple News, which is installed on every iPhone sold to consumers, could introduce millions of new customers to their content.”
According to this new report, The Wall Street Journal has officially signed on for the new subscription service. However, two of the other biggest names in the game will not be doing the same. Both The New York Times and The Washington Post have reportedly decided to opt-out of the new subscription service.
“Other major publishers, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, have opted out of joining the subscription service, said the people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the plans.”
Apple reportedly wants a 50/50 revenue split with publications that sign up for this new subscription service. While that has led many publications to balk at the idea, some have signed on. Including the WSJ. However, major holdouts like the Post and the NYT are big losses for Apple. It will be interesting to see if Apple will renegotiate with those companies down the road in an effort to secure their content for the subscription service in the future.
It is expected that, along with the other publications that are signed up, Apple and the WSJ will announce the deal on March 25, during its upcoming subscription service event.
[via NYT]
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