Sources: OpenAI is in talks with CNN and Fox Corp. to license their text, video, and image content; Time “is in discussions with OpenAI” about a content deal
OpenAI is in talks with CNN, Fox & Time to license their content. … X: Lynn Doan / @lynnmdoan : EXCLUSIVE lots of interesting detail including: The Washington Post has not been in talks with OpenAI in recent months. One media executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their company is considering taking legal action against OpenAI, similar to the New York Times. Shirin Ghaffary / @shiringhaffary : NEW: OpenAI is in talks with CNN, Fox, and Time to license their content, according to sources familiar. Among the “dozens” of outlets it's talking to, as we first reported last week. w/ @GrahamStarr @BrodyFord_ https://www.bloomberg.com/... David Clinch / @davidclinchnews : #MediaRevenue It makes sense that OpenAI is progressing in talks with what I would describe as “volume” news orgs. Not that these orgs don't create “value” content as well, like NYT, but they provide the kind of real time volume that LLM's need to create outputs. See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
OpenAI's outreach to CNN, Fox and Time extends months of licensing discussions with major publishers rather than a one-off negotiation. It follows an earlier split in publisher posture: the AP had already licensed archive material and received OpenAI technology through a two-year partnership, while Dow Jones and CNN were raising the question of payment for AI use of reporting.
The talks matter because they put text, video and images from major news brands into a single commercial bargaining process. With at least one publisher considering litigation, negotiated licenses are also becoming an alternative to resolving access through court fights.
First-order effects
- CNN, Fox Corp. and Time gain a potential route to set terms and compensation for OpenAI's use of their reporting and visual assets; OpenAI must negotiate rights across multiple media formats rather than rely on a uniform arrangement.
- The reported absence of recent Washington Post talks and the prospect of publisher litigation underline that OpenAI's publisher access will be uneven, not industry-wide.
Second-order effects
- Other publishers can use the expanding set of talks and the AP's earlier licensing arrangement as negotiating reference points, increasing pressure for differentiated terms covering training, product display and attribution.
- News organizations face a sharper strategic choice between licensing content for AI products and preserving legal leverage over unlicensed use; that choice may fragment the supply of high-quality news inputs.
Third-order effects
- If such agreements proliferate, premium publisher archives and current reporting could become a paid, contract-governed input layer for AI systems, shifting value from open-web availability toward negotiated access.
- The eventual market structure remains uncertain: litigation could still establish different baseline rights, but repeated deals would make content rights, provenance and distribution terms durable competitive variables for AI developers.
The trend: Generative-AI companies are moving from broad web-scale ingestion toward commercial agreements for high-value, professionally produced content.