Good luck with that

[pauldun170]

Murdoch signals end of free news

News Corp is set to start charging online customers for news content across all its websites.

The media giant is looking for additional revenue streams after announcing big losses.

The company lost $3.4bn (£2bn) in the year to the end of June, which chief executive Rupert Murdoch said had been "the most difficult in recent history".

News Corp owns the Times and Sun newspapers in the UK and the New York Post and Wall Street Journal in the US.

'Revolution'

“ We intend to charge for all our news websites. I believe that if we are successful, we will be followed by other media ”
Rupert Murdoch, chief executive, News Corp

Mr Murdoch said he was "satisfied" that the company could produce "significant revenues from the sale of digital delivery of newspaper content".

"The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive methods of distribution," he added.

"But it has not made content free. Accordingly, we intend to charge for all our news websites. I believe that if we are successful, we will be followed by other media.

"Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalising its ability to produce good reporting," he said.

In order to stop readers from moving to the huge number of free news websites, Mr Murdoch said News Corp would simply make its content "better and differentiate it from other people".

HAVE YOUR SAY What a ridiculous idea. Why would anyone pay for news from the web? Paul, Lichfield

Alfonso Marone, analyst and partner at Value Partners Group, told the BBC that the model could work "for well-known publications - for must-read, must-know content. The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times are already charging for content, for example," he said.

He believes that a micro-charging structure, where readers pay just 5p or 10p to access an article, might work. "This is less than the price of an SMS [text message]," he argued.

"This is definitely the way the [newspaper] industry is going," he concluded.

Recovery

The firm has suffered from plunging advertising revenues.

"Our financial performance clearly reflects the weak economic environment that we confronted throughout the year," Mr Murdoch said.

He did, however, say that there were signs of life in the advertising market.

"I think the worst may be behind us, but there are no clear signs yet of a fast economic recovery."

He added that News Corp was "particularly well-placed for the coming recovery".

New Corp's $3.4bn loss was due to $8.9bn in write-downs already announced, compared with a $5.4bn profit a year earlier.

Revenues at the media giant, which owns BSkyB and 20th Century Fox, fell 7.8%.

In the fourth quarter, News Corp lost $203m compared with a net profit of $1.1bn in the same period a year ago.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ss/8186701.stm