While 450 news outlets are distributing video newsfeeds from the Associated Press, using its Windows-only viewer, Cox Newspapers is opting out. The AP and Microsoft's MSN launched an online video news network March 1.
According to the interactive-projects editor at the Palm Beach Post, Cox is dropping out because the MSN-supplied player does not work with the Firefox browser or Apple Computer's Macs.
"We are very strong supporter of AP and the new AP Video product," confirmed Leon Levitt, vice president for digital media at Cox Newspapers, in an e-mail. "It was a very tough decision to temporarily take the player down." He said it will be reinstated "as soon as a definitive timeline is reached with respect to Mac and browser compatibility."
Nonetheless, the Post's interactive editor, Will Sullivan, is exhorting newspapers to follow Cox. "Stand up for our users and the future of the Internet," he wrote on his blog. "Tell Microsoft and AP... to take a walk."
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