MILAN: Alphabet’s Google said on Wednesday it had sealed agreements with various Italian publishers to offer access to some of their content on the US tech giant’s Showcase news platform. Google News Showcase is a global vehicle to pay news publishers for their content online and a new service that would allow partnering publishers to curate content and provide limited access to paywalled stories for users.
The deal was signed with several Italian publishers, including RCS Mediagroup, which publishes daily Corriere della Sera as well as popular sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, the publisher of financial daily Il Sole 24 ore, Caltagirone editore, which owns Il Messaggero, and Monrif, which publishes local papers such as Il Giorno and La Nazione. To date, 13 Italian editorial firms have finalised deals with Google, giving users access to content from 76 national and local papers. No financial details of the deal were disclosed.