New York Times and CNBC in Web deal

NEW YORK,USA: New York Times Co and business news channel CNBC will share video and stories from each other's Web sites, an alliance that could bolster them against an expected assault by News Corp.

Under the deal, New York Times articles will be posted on CNBC's Web site, while the Times will use CNBC video for its site.

 "They have something we don't have enough of -- video -- and we bring in-depth business reporting," Larry Ingrassia, the Times's business news editor, said in an interview.

"You try to make alliances with partners who you think can add value to your report, and to whom you can add value," he said.

The video clips will be two to three minutes long and will include items such as CNBC interviews with newsmakers in the business world, Ingrassia said. The deal brings several advantages to the Times, including prolonging the amount of time that people linger at the Web site, and offering more video, an increasingly popular pastime on the Internet as more people use high-speed connections.

It also gives the Times and CNBC access to each other's breaking business news as Rupert Murdoch's News Corp prepares to fight against them both with the nascent Fox Business Network cable channel and the recently acquired Wall Street Journal.

Still, the deal is not specifically aimed to defend against Murdoch, Ingrassia said. "This is a world in which there is not just one competitor," he said. "Clearly, the Journal is the main competitor of the Times ... but this is not aimed at any single competitor."

The Times already has a Web content-sharing arrangement with other channels within the NBC Universal unit that owns CNBC. NBC Universal is majority-owned by General Electric Co.