Microsoft to launch its own news site

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REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Just months after selling its stake in MSNBC.com, the news site it produced in partnership with NBC, Microsoft says will launch a news service called MSN News.

The service, with a blend of aggregated and original content produced by a large newsroom in Bellevue, Wash., and another smaller team New York City, will be launched in conjunction with the release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system on Oct. 26, the Columbia Journalism Review reported.

MSN News content will be tailored to the digital opportunities presented by Windows 8, Microsoft said.

"Now that we're holding our own, we feel it's an opportunity for us to really bring all of the capabilities we have with technology, design, and content into a slightly different approach that's built for the Web, rather than built for network news," Steve Cvengros, an executive producer, said.

"I don't think you can say that you're a content creator without doing news. This will be the cornerstone in how we look at content-creation through all of MSN."

At first, 75 percent of the site's content will be aggregated from other news wire services and news sources, but that will drop to around a 50-50 percentage by early next year, Microsoft said.

News teams from two current MSN sites, Money and Entertainment, will be absorbed in the new MSN News site over time, Cvengros said.

"One aspect for us when we say we're building a newsroom from scratch, is looking at how we will build a 24-7, follow-the-sun global news service," he said.