Redlasso, once the darling of the online new clipping world is coming back to blogs after being forced to stop offering its services to bloggers in May 2008 .
Redlasso has signed an agreement with Fox that will see news content from Fox’s local television stations available via Redlasso on blogs and news oriented websites. Under the deal, Fox and Redlasso will share advertising revenue from the clips, with either party able to sell the ads.
The only possible flaw is in the distribution of content. The release notes that content will be made available to bloggers, but makes no mention of the ability to upload that content as well. The distinction is important, because where similar services continually fail vs the original Redlasso is in speed; supply of clips under these deals usually results in a delay, hence the attractiveness diminishes in a fast breaking news cycle. The original offering from Redlasso triumphed because users could upload the clips often minutes after they had gone to air, and those clips would be available immediately.
While some sites have said that the news means Redlasso is back from the dead, it’s important to note that they never died, only that the public, freely available to bloggers portion of the service ceased last year. Redlasso has continued to operate as a private news clipping services operating legally on a subscription basis, as a range of other companies do.
It’s good to see Redlasso back offering a clipping service for blogs, and although the content offering is only one network, it’s a start: if any company knows how to make this work, Redlasso does.
