Whilst our brief survey has shown that plenty of traditionally-operated picture agencies remain in operation both in the United Kingdom and overseas, the news media is increasingly turning to subscription services for much of their photographic content. Subscription services tend to have a much larger staff and thus a wider geographical reach than conventional picture agencies. As pictures are purchased from the company in bulk as part of a standardised subscription package rather than on an individual basis, some media outlets clearly feel that subscription services represent better value for money: a factor of increasingly heightened importance in recent years, particularly in light of the ever-shrinking print marketplace and the widespread slashing of photography budgets throughout much of the media.
In the UK, the Press Association, whose shareholders include all of the major national newspaper publishers,20 transmits over 25,000 pictures a week to its subscribers and has an archive of over 7 million shots available online.21 A particularly notable part of the PA's archive is its extensive collection of sport pictures, and the agency functions as something of a one-stop shop for Britain's press in this respect. Agence France Presse is a Paris-based operation with a truly global reach, having 18 partner agencies22 and editorial desks on five continents.23 AFP claims to be 'the world's first international news agency' and as it has existed in various forms since 1835, this seems to be a statement which is beyond dispute. The largest subscription agency, however, is the news service Thomson Reuters. Working administratively out of London, New York and Singapore, the company has an astounding 55,000 employees.24 Although only a portion of this workforce in involved in photography operations, the raw number alone speaks to the sheer size of the corporation in comparison to others working in the press photography market.