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10/25/07
AP Press Release
New AP packaging and pricing plan to take effect in 2009;
AP Board approves 'Member Choice,' making more content available
and easier to find
NEW YORK -- The Associated Press Board of Directors
approved a set of resolutions today that will restructure
the way AP content is packaged for newspaper members as well
as the assessment formula to charge for it. The move represents
the most comprehensive change in the way AP content is sold
in the history of the cooperative.
The new plan, called “Member Choice,” will make
all AP English-language breaking news text available to members
-- a step that should enable them to locate significantly
more news of local interest for their markets.
For example, in a pilot study of Member Choice this summer,
a newspaper in Texas could easily follow stories about an
international company that is a major local employer. Another
paper, in a city facing an overcrowding issue in high schools,
located stories from two other cities in other states facing
the same problem. Under AP’s previous distribution model,
the newspapers would not have access to those stories.
“As newspapers focus more on local news, this total
access to breaking news will greatly expand the amount of
locally relevant content they can draw from,” said Tom
Brettingen, AP senior vice president for Global Newspaper
Markets. “Member Choice offers members more access to
news, the tools to identify what they care about most, and
the contract terms to use it more broadly. It also comes with
a new easy-to-understand pricing structure.”
With Member Choice, members will pay a basic assessment that
gives them access to all AP state, national and international
breaking news. Using the Web-based AP Exchange delivery platform,
newspapers can search this broader pool of content to find
the stories that are most locally meaningful to their readers.
For additional fees, members will be able to buy premium services
featuring in-depth content in news analysis, business, sports,
entertainment and lifestyles. In addition, for the first time,
members will be able to buy these stories on an a la carte
basis. Members who choose not to buy the premium sports package,
for example, will be able to view that content using AP Exchange
and purchase individual stories.
Previously, AP sold its text in different-sized bundles, intended
to serve the basic needs of small, medium and large newspapers,
with the core services including varying amounts of national
and international news and content from the newspaper’s
home state wire.
Under the new plan, most AP members will experience either
a reduction in costs, or no change, from their current AP
fees. The basic assessment will continue to be based on circulation,
as it has in the past. This move marks the first major change
in AP’s assessment schedule since 1985.
Member Choice is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2009. It
affects U.S. newspapers, which are owners of the not-for-profit
cooperative. Broadcast and new media customers should also
benefit from these changes, although specific programs have
not been finalized.
ABOUT AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network,
delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world
to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today
is the largest and most trusted source of independent news
and information. On any given day, more than half the world's
population sees news from AP.
On the Net: www.ap.org
Contact: Jack Stokes, AP Corporate Communications, 212.621.1720
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