Rupe Not Likely to Yank Content From Google

Rupert Murdoch is not likely to go through with his plan to remove News Corp. content from Google News. He could negotiate a big payout from Microsoft for "de-Googled" content to place on Bing, Jason Calcanis suggests. But that's not likely to hurt Google, or help Bing, unless other content providers follow. And so few others would follow that Murdoch's move would be like "shouting into a hole," said one analyst.

In the meantime, News Corp. sites could lose millions from advertising to readers currently referred by Google, and other sites could exploit Wall Street Journal stories to boost their own hits through Google, notes Advertising Age. Murdoch will more likely instead follow through on the other possibility he mentioned in his now-infamous Sky News interview: erecting higher pay walls. News Corp. content will still be provided to Google, but only short summaries—bait for micro-payments or subscriptions. (More Google stories.)