Disney Bolsters European Content Lineup with ZDF Agreement; Anthropic Resolves Piracy Lawsuit; Perplexity Introduces New Publisher Income Strategy

ZDF and Disney+ Partner to Launch Comet Plus, a Revolutionary Streaming Service

In a groundbreaking move, German public broadcaster ZDF has partnered with Disney+ to bring a curated collection of ZDF films and TV series to viewers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This partnership, which will feature over 3,000 episodes and films by the end of the year, marks a significant milestone in Disney's collaboration with European broadcasters.

Under the "ZDF Films and Series" banner, the content will carry ZDF branding on Disney+. Notably, this arrangement allows ZDF to promote its content to Disney+ subscribers who may not normally engage with the broadcaster. New seasons of select ZDF series will arrive on Disney+ months after airing on ZDF's linear channels.

The partnership is part of a new service, Comet Plus, set to launch widely this fall. Comet Plus is a subscription-based service that aims to compensate publishers for their content used by Perplexity's AI. Perplexity, known for its AI models, is among the first AI companies to compensate publishers based on content usage.

Payments to publishers will come from subscription revenue generated by Comet Plus. The revenue pool for this program is USD$42.5m (£31.6m) and will grow over time. Publishers will receive 80% of the pooled revenue, while 20% goes to Perplexity. The settlement stems from a case filed last year by writers Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson.

Payments to publishers are based on direct visits to publisher sites through Comet, when content is cited in AI search answers, and when content helps Comet's AI complete tasks. Subscription revenue from Perplexity's Pro, Max, and $5 (£3.72) Comet Plus tiers is pooled.

No public information is available yet about which media companies have signed up for Perplexity's new compensation model or which publishers are ready to use it for the upcoming Comet Plus service launching in autumn. However, it is known that current participants in Perplexity's ad revenue share program include Blavity, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Gannett, The Independent, and Time.

The settlement between Anthropic, another AI company, and US authors accusing the company of copyright infringement, allows Anthropic to avoid a trial over claims that its Claude AI models were trained on pirated books. This development underscores the growing importance of fair compensation for content creators in the AI era.

Karl Holmes, GM for Disney+ EMEA, has stated that the deal represents a milestone in Disney's collaboration with European broadcasters. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, partnerships like this one are likely to become more common, bridging the gap between traditional broadcasting and streaming services.

Disney Bolsters European Content Lineup with ZDF Agreement; Anthropic Resolves Piracy Lawsuit; Perplexity Introduces New Publisher Income Strategy