This is not how business has been done on the World Wide Web.

Microsoft has been in early discussions with the News Corporation, the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, about a pact to pay the News Corporation to remove links to its news content from Google’s search engine and display them exclusively on Bing, from Microsoft, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke anonymously because of the confidential negotiations.

If such an arrangement came to pass, it would be a watershed moment in the history of the Internet, and set off a fierce debate over the future of content online.

The Web’s explosive growth has been driven, in part, by the open playing field it represents for consumers and businesses. These discussions could encourage major technology and media companies to start picking sides — essentially applying the cable TV model to the Web.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life

1. Septuagenarian wrote: Wouldn’t this violate anti-trust laws? Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time Microsoft got its hands slapped for such, both in the U.S. and in Europe. November 25, 10:50 am | [comment link]

2. Frank Fuller wrote: I wonder by how many billions the hits on Newscorp’s links would drop?  What’s bad for business is bad for business… November 25, 4:27 pm | [comment link]

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