Breaking the mold
Rupert Murdoch's giant media empire - News Corp - is attempting to break the free content, ad funded paradigm that has prevailed on the Internet since its inception by charging for access to all its new websites.
The decision, announced by Murdoch in an analyst call following the announcement of net losses of $3.4 billion for the last financial year, is in response to the dramatic decline in advertising revenues over the past year. While the global recession had a big part to play in that, it must be assumed that Murdoch has lost confidence in the long-term viability of the free content online model.
"The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive methods of distribution," said Murdoch. "But it has not made content free. Accordingly we intend to charge for all our news websites."
This move is not exactly without precedent at News Corp. It's a global leader in the subscription TV market - owning BSkyB in the UK - and already requires a subscription for access to the online version of the Wall Street Journal, which it acquired two years ago, and which Murdoch called "the world's most successful paid news site."
