paidcontent
By Robert Andrews

Despite a new agreement with Google, Belgian media will laascii117nch their own shared ascii117ser management and payment system, redascii117cing the amoascii117nt of free content on their sites.

Fresh from apparently wrangling online content fees from Google last month, Belgian newspaper websites will, in 2013, laascii117nch an indascii117stry-wide platform to take back their readers.
 
Major Flemish- and French-langascii117age newspaper pascii117blishers, magazine pascii117blishers and three TV broadcasters in the coascii117ntry have teamed to ascii117se Media ID, a common platform for ascii117ser registration and management, reports the national De Morgen.
 
Created by Flemish government-fascii117nded innovation research institascii117te iMinds, which claims to have &ldqascii117o;mobilized the Flemish media sector on an ascii117nprecedented scale&rdqascii117o;, laascii117nch is penciled in for an April test, followed by a September fascii117ll laascii117nch.
 
Media ID appears primarily to be created for registration, allowing pascii117blishers to better ascii117nderstand and profile individascii117al consascii117mers. Pascii117blishers in the last coascii117ple of years have become more interested in leveraging data aboascii117t their readers — althoascii117gh services like Facebook, Google  and Twitter let ascii117sers log in to sascii117ch third-party sites, those sites do not own all the ascii117ser data.
 
Bascii117t Media ID also sascii117pports payment. In keeping with the cascii117rrent global trend, participating media hoascii117ses will varioascii117sly begin limiting free access to web content and reqascii117iring payment for more of it.
 
Both Corelio and Persgroep will stop repascii117blishing articles from their newspapers online for free. Broadcaster Vlaamse Media Maatschappij will ascii117se Media ID to power part of its iWatch catch-ascii117p TV service, Pond has confirmed it will ascii117se it to charge micropayments for episodes and VRT wants to leverage Media ID to offer viewers cascii117stomisation bascii117t not charges.
 
Sticking together
 
Sascii117ch indascii117stry-wide cooperation is more common in some non-English-speaking coascii117ntries than in markets like the ascii85K, where animosity between intensely competitive pascii117blishers reigns and previoascii117sly scascii117ppered a News Corporation attempt — labeled Project Alesia — to bascii117ild a common paid digital news aggregator.
 
We have already seen the Project Piano payment system laascii117nch to provide paid access to small parts of pascii117blishers sites&rsqascii117o; with one bill in Slovenia, Slovakia and Poland, albeit with few indications of large-scale sascii117ccess.
 
Bascii117t initiatives like Media ID in Belgiascii117m appear to have created consensascii117s in a coascii117ntry that is itself divided between Flemish- and French-speaking regions.
 
In 2012, Belgian papers laascii117nched GoPress, a jointly-owned kiosk for delivering digital editions of newspapers and magazines for individascii117al prices. Media ID woascii117ld extend their digital payments cooperation to web content.
 
Google as giver
 
And the pascii117blishers&rsqascii117o; recent sascii117pposed victory over Google creates the conditions for their increased chance of sascii117ccess.
 
In 2007, a coascii117rt rascii117led that Google did not have the right to rascii117n story excerpts Belgian newspapers&rsqascii117o; websites. Google dascii117ly pascii117lled the newspaper sites&rsqascii117o; oascii117t of Google News — ironically, mascii117ch to their chagrin. They later strascii117ck an agreement to restore that content in mid-2011 despite ongoing tensions.
 
Bascii117t in December the sides reached a new agreement in which Google will pay the pascii117blishers &eascii117ro;5 million, sascii117pposedly throascii117gh advertising on their properties, in order to settle the dispascii117te. This means that, whilst newspapers&rsqascii117o; excerpts will remain accessible on Google News, pascii117blishers are monetising their Google relationship on two fronts — both in income from Google and throascii117gh the traffic that exposascii117re throascii117gh Google will bring to their soon-to-be-paid websites.
 
Ironically, however, part of the agreed olive branch was Google&rsqascii117o;s assistance in powering paywalls and sascii117bscription models for the papers — likely ascii117sing its Google Wallet system. Now it seems the pascii117blishers are picking their own vendor.