Under fire for planned rate changes, the Associated Press last fall promised alterations and rate reductions of $30 million for 2009. The new plans are being announced today at the news cooperative’s annual meeting in San Diego and they include another $35 million in rate reductions in 2010 and an option for members to choose a one-year termination plan instead of the two-year notice currently required. Instead, members opting for the two-year plan would be offered a discount. Overall, AP estimates the changes will reduce its revenue from U.S. newspaper members by roughly one-third between 2008 and 2010; the average decrease will run about 20 percent but it depends on the plans being used.
It’s a major turnaround for the AP, whose members have been squabbling publicly over how best to handle news coverage and the supply of news and information during a critical time for the news industry. Budget woes exacerbated by the difficult economy accelerated issues that might otherwise have taken much longer to bubble up. Will this be enough? Hard to say at this point.
The new plans, which the AP says come after “hundreds of meetings” with editors and publishers and a 23-person focus group in February, include:
— AP Member Choice Complete: full access to all of AP
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