CNET: Reuters picks up Web syndication technology

Reuters is adopting the Really Simple Syndication (RSS), giving a boost to the content distribution standard seen commonly in blogs. The news wire will allow sites to publish headlines and one-line story descriptions of several important categories, as well as links to its news videos.

Reuters has moved to limit the free content it distributes to partners such as Yahoo, worrying that this freely available content lowers the value of its very expensive financial news services. The adoption of RSS seems to indicate that the company is bifurcating its business into a more solid subscription package and a more widely distributed free product that might develop advertising revenues.