Google Inc. is undercutting rival Apple Inc. with an online payment system that lets publishers keep more of the fees charged for reading their digital editions.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt unveiled the one-stop payment service, called One Pass, at Berlin’s Humboldt University on Wednesday. Three German publishers, including the nation’s leading Axel Springer AG, already have signed up
Besides Germany, One Pass is available to publishers in Canada, France, Italy, the U.K. and the U.S. Google said Media General Inc., publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Rust Communications, owner of the Southeast Missourian, plan to use One Pass.
The announcement came a day after Apple rolled out a long-awaited subscription service for applications designed for its iPhone and iPad. Apple is demanding a 30 percent cut of all subscriptions sold on those mobile apps while Google is charging 10 percent.
“We aren’t in this to make money. Google makes money in other ways,” Schmidt said. “We are trying to get money to people who are producing high-quality content.”
Google makes most of its money from digital ads, including some that appear alongside online stories from newspapers and magazines.
The strategy has turned Google into one of the world’s most profitable companies, fostering resentment among some publishers, which believe the Internet search engine has prospered by showing excerpts of newspaper and magazine stories.
Most of the Web content has been given away during the past 15 years, but more publishers already have started or are planning to impose fees to access content digitally.
Google’s one-stop payment service is similar to one that debuted last year from a group led by Steve Brill, founder of Court TV and American Lawyer.
Google will give publishers some of the personal information that it collects about their subscribers. By contrast, Apple isn’t sharing that data with publishers unless subscribers give their explicit approval. Publishers say they need to know who their readers are to help sell advertising and for other marketing purposes.
Schmidt also announced that Google was funding a Berlin-based institute in conjunction with Humboldt University. It would examine the evolution of the Internet and its impact on society.
Google has clashed repeatedly with German authorities over data privacy issues and been forced to tweak some of its services to satisfy strict regulations here.
Schmidt underlined the importance of allowing users the “choice” of how much private information they want to share and stressed the importance of the new foundation as a place to discuss such issues.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More