What does AP cost?

just curious what a small daily newspaper might pay per month for AP photos and stories. I've just always wanted to know since I've never worked at a shop that uses their services. Thanks...

also, are there any other wire services out there that would rival AP? Any sports only wire services?

FB

 

Isn't it like $20 per photo?

 

from my old-man memory, i'm thinking the smallest of daily shop would probably pay around $400 a week for lowest level of full ap wire. i'm betting that doesn't include photos.

 

It was more like $40 per photo for stuff from the AP Photo Archive when we wanted Phelps pics that weren't even a week old.
At my first stop it was nearly $60 for a one-time photo.

 

AP photos? You guys are suckers!

 

I didn't say I paid it.

 

I <3 Getty Images.

 

You enter a "tiered service" contract.
It depends on circulation and package(s) received.

 

I read somewhere that they're re-working the tiers and prices. There's rumblings around my shop that we may drop AP. I don't really know why. That will end our newspapers.

 

What is Member Choice?
Member Choice is a new pricing and content packaging program that simplifies and broadens member access to AP content. Under Member Choice, AP is expanding its value for newspapers, both in print and online. Coverage is being increased in key target areas of growth, enhancing the ability of newspapers to create custom news reports relevant to their local and niche audiences. Flexible new licensing will enable them to use AP content in a wide range of local publications and the technological tools to do all these things are being provided.

AP has streamlined the content options for newspapers within Member Choice into two levels of services to make it easier for them to decide what content they need: AP Breaking News and AP Complete. The core service, AP Breaking News, provides comprehensive breaking news coverage and represents about 90 percent of all AP content. AP Complete offers more analysis and enterprise options. Members also will gain access at no additional cost to much of AP’s Money & Markets financial package as part of core text services, and all members who subscribe to AP PhotoStream will gain full access at no charge to AP’s photo archives as part of that service.

Under Member Choice, newspaper members can receive an estimated $13.6 million in assessment reductions in 2009. In addition, they will be eligible for an additional $7.5 million in rate reductions through AP’s Content Enrichment program. The reductions are part of the most important overhaul in pricing and structure of AP content in the history of the cooperative, and will greatly expand the content that newspapers receive, as well as simplify the process by which they are assessed.

How did AP create the new rate structures for AP Breaking News and AP Complete?
Circulation is the metric for Member Choice, just as it has been for most of AP’s services to newspapers since 1984. Rates differ from newspaper to newspaper and group to group because newspaper circulations have been updated and historic spending patterns on text services have been eliminated from the formula.

Members still have the option to subscribe to specialty services, like Photostream and our suite of produced online feeds. The new formula and packaging simplifies what it costs to be an AP member and receive our services.

One of our primary goals was to distribute rate savings as equitably as possible across the entire newspaper membership. Under this new plan, we expect 90 percent of members to receive a reduction in rates.

As for dropping:

How many newspapers have cancelled AP services?
The explanation is more complex than that. To begin with, members first file a notice of cancellation, which provides a two-year window before actual services are stopped. So, what has happened recently is that papers have filed notices of cancellation. By way of background, over the past two decades, an average of about 4 percent of newspaper members have cancellation notices on file for AP basic services at any one time. Many papers file notices protectively, and then lift them before services are actually stopped. The number of cancellation notices now is running at about 7 percent. Any cancellation notice is cause for concern and we will be working with members to address the issues that led them to submit it.

Why does cancellation of AP service require a two-year notice ?
From almost its inception, AP members, acting directly and through the AP board, have determined that members should provide AP with sufficient advance notice of cancellation of membership to ensure stable ongoing news gathering and distribution operations. This directly benefits AP and the members of the cooperative. The cooperative settled on a two-year notice period as a reasonable balance between the interests of the cooperative and member commitment. This has increased relevance in the current digital environment when AP has been called upon to deliver digital content delivery solutions for the cooperative and to develop and launch the digital cooperative initiative. The two-year notice is both a commitment of membership and a contractual obligation.

http://www.ap.org/choice/faq.html#two

 

Wow. Thanks for that ... I didn't know AP required two years' notice.

 

I was surprised by that too.

I wonder how many managers know this. It would be twisted if they put in their request and don't tell their newsroom until a year or more later when they can actually put some pressure on editors to get more local copy. Saying you are going to cut AP, then having to wait two years seems like an idle threat; and/or gives you enough time to prepare for the loss.