Aggregators win reprieve as Financial Times abandons embargo

The Financial Times has abandoned a move to delay feeds of its content to news aggregators until after noon on the day of publication, which was due to come into force today.

A reprieve was won on the afternoon of 31 August after heavy lobbying from key aggregator partners, including LexisNexis and Factiva.

The news embargo was widely seen as being implemented to protect FT revenues, which have been struggling due to falling readership and advertising sales. Both aggregators had argued that the embargo would jeopardise FT revenues even further. The FT said it will review the situation later this year.

The embargo would have pressurised City and financial organisations – who traditionally access FT content early, particularly before the stock market opens at 6.30am – to take out an FT.com subscription.

Dean Henderson, ceo of Citywebwatch, an email based aggregator, said: “Content providers are in a very powerful position, business leaders want that product and will pay for it.”

For the full story and how Factiva and LexisNexis will respond to any FT embargo see the September issue of Information World Review, out on Monday 5 September.  To receive Information World Review click here.

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