BNO News launches news wire; Twitter account taken over by MSNBC.com

Twitter news service BNO News, formerly Breaking News On, has launched a new subscription-based wire service and announced MSNBC as its first client.

BNO News will develop its mixture of original reporting and news aggregation, which is currently pushed out through its Twitter account and iPhone app, for the new service.

BNO News has entered into a three-year deal with MSNBC.com, according to a tweet on the agreement from Michael Van Poppel, the Dutch founder behind BNO News.

Van Poppel will oversee the development of the news wire service, which is expected to go public in January. The service is in talks with other publishers, it confirmed in the release.

The wire service will be available to news organisations internationally, but will also offer local content to local media outlets in the US, Van Poppel added.

According to a press release, MSNBC.com will take control of the BNO News Twitter account @Breaking News from next month. The account will continue to feature BNO's updates in addition to content from MSNBC, but will no longer be part of BNO News.

The service has become known for breaking news before it hits the traditional wires and its Twitter account, which currently has 1,435,915 followers, will be a welcome acquisition for MSNBC, whose @msnbc_breaking account has only 41,637 followers in comparison.

"News consumers increasingly demand a variety of sources and viewpoints, even while they expect information to find them whenever and wherever they want it," said Jennifer Sizemore, MSNBC.com editor-in-chief, in the release.

"BNO News has grown its audience following these principles and we are excited to use our partnership with them to build on the fastest, most comprehensive feed of breaking news on Twitter."

In April this year CNN took control of the breaking news Twitter account @CNNbrk, which had been created by user James Cox, who was signed up as a consultant as part of the deal.

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