Associated Press cuts deals with Pulse, Flipboard

Reflects shift in readers from paper to tablet

The Associated Press, which once threatened to sue websites that so much as linked to their coverage of events, has now cut two deals that add tablet-based iOS programs as partners with direct access, something it has rarely done with non-print-based journalistic outfits. The deals, both with popular headline aggregators, will see iPad and iPhone apps using direct content from the AP, which provides news reporting to publications around the world. Flipboard will get direct feeds of election coverage, while Pulse gets full access to all AP content, including photos and video.

The news organization has developed a reputation for being web-averse, not even serving its own content on its own web site. But the deals reflect an emerging reality as newspapers and magazines migrate their publications and content onto tablet and even smartphone platforms. Whether through digital editions of existing publications, via aggregators like Flipboard and Pulse or even through its own app, the Associated Press wants to ensure that its content is getting to where the readers are going.

Flipboard’s deal with the AP includes access to a special channel of non-stop coverage of the American presidential election, including real-time updates on polls, candidate coverage, voting results and analysis. Pulse’s arrangement for full access to all content is, say the developers, “one of the first times that AP has opened up” the full range of its coverage, which includes news, business, entertainment, health, politics and sports reporting, including text, photos and video (which does not link back to an originating website, unlike most content on the two apps).

Pulse will offer AP content in both its news and other sections. Flipboard will continue to offer a subset of AP news in addition to the full election coverage. None of the parties have disclosed the prices paid for the deal. [via MoCoNews]

by MacNN Staff

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