CNN to stop using Reuters news service

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The CNN cable television news network said on Thursday it would stop using the Reuters news service, ending a 27-year relationship, to cut costs and invest in its own news gathering operations.

The global television news network owned by the world's largest media company, Time Warner (TWX.N), said in an internal memo that it wanted to reduce reliance on agency material while achieving better control of its growth.

"This is all about us, not Reuters. This is about content ownership," CNN spokesman Nigel Pritchard said. "Everything is changing and content ownership is king."

CNN will stop using Reuters text, photography and television material from Friday.

News organisations such as CNN are grappling with how best to court new generations of viewers who are as likely to get their information on cell phones and the Internet as fromtelevision.

Contracts with news suppliers such as Reuters Group RTR.L typically grant subscribers like CNN permission to use news content for a limited period.

"To advantage CNN in the content marketplace and manage the continually rising costs associated with acquired assets, we are making significant investments in our own news gathering while simultaneously reducing our reliance on agency material," Tony Maddox, executive vice president of CNN International, said in a memo dated August 29.

CNN will continue to use news provided by the Associated Press and Associated Press Television News, which competes with Reuters.

"It's a step forward to greater control of our editorial product, of the quality of the CNN services we provide and of our growth and success in the Digital Age," Maddox wrote in the memo.

Reuters had no immediate comment.

(Reporting by Kenneth Li)