Australia news media 'large and small' discuss Google deals

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Google was quickly negotiating generous deals with big and small Australian media companies to pay for news as the Parliament considers forcing digital giants into such agreements, a minister said on Wednesday.

Seven West Media on Monday became the largest Australian news media business to strike a deal with Google to pay for journalism and its rival Nine Entertainment was reportedly close to announcing its own agreement.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed that state-owned Australian Broadcasting Corp. was also in negotiations and plans to spend any Google revenue on regional journalism.

“There are negotiations going on with all the major players and the minor players at the moment,” Frydenberg told reporters. “This will help sustain public interest journalism in this country for years to come.”

Frydenberg said “none of these deals would be happening” if not for proposed legislation to create a so-called News Media Bargaining Code.

Amended legislation to create the code was scheduled to be introduced to the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The code would create an arbitration panel to set a binding price for news in cases where Google and Facebook failed to reach deals with media companies whose original journalism they link to.

“Everything that I have heard from parties, both in the news media business and in terms of digital platforms, is that these are generous deals,” Frydenberg said.

“These are fair deals. These are good deals. These are good deals for the Australian media businesses,” he added.

Google and Facebook, which take a combined 81% of online advertising in Australia, have condemned the code as unworkable.

Google has threatened to make its search engine unavailable in Australia if the code were...