New York - The Associated Press will shutter asap, its two-year-old premium multimedia news service geared towards a younger, YouTube-friendly demographic, after it failed to attract enough interest from its newspaper partners, the AP reported. The site offers AP news videos, in addition to asap-produced videos and podcasts, and counts about 200 newspaper subscribers. "We're in the business of providing news coverage in a fiscally responsible way," AP executive editor Kathleen Carroll said in an AP interview. "If we launch a product that is intended to generate revenues, they need to generate sufficient revenue for us to continue to produce them."

New York - The Associated Press' asap multimedia news service on Monday announced plans to launch a new blog focused on the AP wire, as well as two new video news segments. The "Far and Wide" blog, which launches on Tuesday, will include text, audio, video and photos in up to 25 posts a day on a variety of news areas. Readers will be able to respond to stories and interact with AP staffers. AP also plans to launch a biweekly video show on religion called "Everything Sacred," and a weekly video game report called "Up Down Left Right."