Entries tagged with “online content” from Tools of Change for Publishing

"Amazon Tax" Moves Forward in New York

Mac Slocum
January 14, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (1) | Listen

A judge has dismissed lawsuits from Amazon and Overstock.com challenging New York's "Amazon tax," which was enacted last year. From the Associated Press:

The law applies to companies that don't have offices in New York, but have at least one person in the state who works as an online agent -- someone who links to a Web site and receives commissions for related sales.

In this case, "agent" is synonymous with "affiliate." Amazon and other online retailers share a cut of revenue generated by affiliate referrals. If further appeals go against Amazon and, as expected, other states jump on the sales tax bandwagon, affiliate programs of all sorts could take a major hit.

The AP notes that the law applies to "companies that have $10,000 or more in New York sales." There's some confusion around this $10,000 figure -- does it apply to companies that run affiliate programs (e.g. Amazon) and generate $10,000 or more in New York-based sales, or does it refer to affiliates who earn $10,000 through revenue share agreements? According to Law.com, the company that sells the products is held to the $10,000 standard. As such, a company could not skirt the law by cutting off individual New York-based affiliates before they reach $10,000 in referral sales. To avoid collecting New York sales tax altogether, companies would have to limit the combined income from all New York affiliates to less than $10,000.

(Via the Reading 2.0 list)

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BBC Shifts Conversation Style: Go Where They're Already Talking

Peter Brantley
October 13, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

I think this deserves to be pondered. BBC News is moving away from merely hosting comments to inciting discussion in a variety of formats and locations. From Reportr.net:

For the US presidential debates, it [the BBC] has opened channels on video services Qik, 12Seconds and Phreadz. Some of the videos were subsequently edited and posted on the BBC News website.

The purpose, explains [BBC Editor] Matthew Eltringham, is "to join in conversations wherever they were happening rather than expect people to come to us and host them on the BBC's platforms."

This is a major change in the BBC's approach to user-generated content. It signals a shift away from the idea that the BBC should host the conversation. [Link added]

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Guardian Blazes New Media Trail with paidContent.org Acquisition

Mac Slocum
July 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

According to Kara Swisher, The Guardian Media Group has purchased ContentNext, publisher of paidContent.org, for more than $30 million. ReadWriteWeb says this acquisition and separate open-data initiatives have pushed The Guardian to the head of the media pack:

What do you get when you combine cutting edge tech openness with some of the leading new media publishers online? A kick ass publisher ready for the 21st century, hopefully. Meanwhile the rest of the newspaper industry struggles to survive attacks from Craigslist.

(Via Peter Brantley's read20 list)

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PBS Online Videos Include Advertising

Peter Brantley
June 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Listen

PBS is releasing shows on the video site Hulu, but incorporating advertising with a revenue sharing plan. The New York Times Bits blog discusses the move with Andrew Russell, senior vice president of PBS Ventures:

PBS has moved online slowly, and right now it makes only a small fraction of its content available over the Internet. One reason is the complexity of the rights to its programs. Nova, for example, is produced by WGBH in Boston, which acquires individual episodes from various production companies. Only in some cases does PBS actually have the rights to distribute shows online.

Mr. Russell said that by exploring digital distribution with the programs that the network does have rights to, it hopes to build the case to show that producers should let it distribute their shows online. This means offering them a good share of the advertising revenue or download fees. The online deals also show corporate and foundation sponsors that the programs are reaching a wider audience.

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