News
NBC Universal enters the stock photo business
NBC Universal has announced plans to launch a new Digital Media Distribution Group, which will actively develop, digitize, manage and distribute its archival photo assets. According to a press release from the company dated June 2nd, 2006, the new department "will maximize efforts to digitize the valuable and exclusive NBC Universal photo archive dating back to the 1940s and the era of NBC Radio, and will initiate a new company-controlled online digital image distribution and licensing strategy beginning in July 2006." The release goes on to say that the company currently makes images from its archive "available to be licensed by bona fide business clients for editorial or approved commercial uses..."The announcement raises intriguing questions. How will a large well-established company like NBC Universal appraoch the development of this business? Will the entry of such a high-profile historical archive create a serious contender in an already competetive niche currently dominated by Corbis? Does the move signal the beginning of a trend of other news and entertainment organizations getting into the digital archive game in order to "monetize" these photographic assets? Only time will tell.
Click here to view the original press release.
Posted in: News, Stock Art Buyers, Stock Photo Companies
