Cahners Business Information, the parent company of Publishers Weekly, announced a joint venture with Copyright Clearance Center's digital rights management solution, Rightslink, through its TVinsite portal. The venture will offer content licensing rights for such Cahners publications as Multichannel News and Broadcasting and Cable.
"This is just the beginning of an aggressive push to Rightslink-enable all of our online content," said Charles Lillis, v-p of licensing and brand development for Cahners. The company, a provider of business-to-business information, plans to add Rightslink to all its Internet publications.
With Rightslink, users can license content directly on the Web without leaving the site they're browsing. By clicking on the Rightslink icon, they can buy a license to reuse the content or to purchase a hard copy or digital reprint. Rightslink, which went live a year ago starting with Dow Jones Reprints, is now available on a number of sites, including www.wsj.com. Other Rightslink users include Blackwell Scientific, the New York Times and MSNBC.
According to Rick Miller, manager of market analysis and development for CCC, Rightslink makes the permissions process "much more intuitive."
"The meat of our business is in the periodical market," Miller told PW. "It's a great way for publishers to enhance their revenue stream, especially with advertising down right now." He regards e-books as the next natural market for Rightslink. "I don't think the e-book is too far down the line," said Miller.
