NewsNow gives in to NLA demands

Information is just surfacing that NewsNow (as mentioned in a previous posting of mine) has bent to the demands of the Newspaper Licensing Authority and is to pull all links to a load of national newspaper sites from its paid for/ B2B area on its site..

Struan Bartlett from NewsNow.co.uk stated:

“We have worked extremely hard to seek clarification from the NLA and its solicitors on the legal basis for either NewsNow or our customers requiring a licence. I am sorry to say that the NLA has not substantiated the legal basis for its licence. Indeed in our view its arguments do not hold water. We believe that other organisations who privately agree with our position have reluctantly signed the NLA agreement under pressure. However, we are not in a position on our own to fund an extremely costly legal case on behalf of an entire industry.

So... rather than fight a costly legal battle against the NLA, they will imminently remove the links from their paid-for part of their site.

The full news release is here.

£10,000 a year plus £155 per B2B user

That's the fee that the Newspaper Licensing Agency want to start charging NewsNow... (for now).
"I don't think it is being unduly greedy to suggest that some of this comes back to us on behalf of the organisations creating the content"

states Andrew Hughes NLA's Commercial Director (note the use of "unduly" there)

But what reciprocal value does the NLA place on the links to its member sites? If only this value could be quantified...

in reference to:

"NLA's commercial director"
- http://econsultancy.com/blog/4902-the-nla-explains-why-it-is-going-after-the-news-aggregators (view on Google Sidewiki)