News Corp. to charge for newspaper websites
Last Updated: Friday, August 7, 2009 | 8:33 AM ET
The Associated Press
Related
Your vote:
Visitors to the websites of newspapers owned by News Corp. will have to start paying fees to read the news within the next year, chair Rupert Murdoch said.
It's risky for the company because a pay barrier could drive away web traffic — and with it, advertising revenue.
"You don't want to be the first guy to put up a big pay wall when all other roads to content are open," said Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Outsell Inc.
Yet it is a move many news outlets will closely watch as they, too, consider charging users as the decline in print ad revenue far outpaces the growth of online ad dollars.
Murdoch told analysts late Wednesday that the company plans to start charging at all of the company's news websites. It wasn't immediately clear whether News Corp.'s broadcast websites would be included; spokeswoman Teri Everett had no further details Thursday.
Among News Corp.'s stable of dailies is the New York Post, The Times of London and the Sun, a popular British tabloid. News Corp. already charges for some access to the Wall Street Journal's website. It also owns the social-networking site MySpace.
The idea of charging online is a reversal for Murdoch, who talked about throwing open the Journal's paid site when his company took over the newspaper in 2008.
Declining ad revenue
There is a growing urgency, at News Corp. and elsewhere, to do something to stem the decline in ad revenue.
News Corp. lost $203 million US in the most recent quarter and sees few indications of a speedy comeback. "I think the worst may be behind us but there are no clear signs yet of a fast economic recovery," Murdoch said.
The New York Times Co. is in a similar position. Having seen ad revenues drop by nearly a third this year, the company is considering some kind of online pay system at its flagship newspaper. It promises more details in the fall.
Unlike the Journal, which has charged readers from the outset, the Times has been largely free online except for a few abandoned experiments.
In the most recent — Times Select — the site charged for access to opinion writers. But the site dropped the idea after estimating it would make more money from the extra traffic through advertising.
The challenge is holding on to ad dollars while charging those readers who are willing to pay. One idea is setting up a kind of toll that allows readers to visit the site for free but begins charging after a certain number of page views.
Murdoch gave few details Wednesday on what News Corp.'s approach will be.
"The Wall Street Journal's WSJ.com is the world's most successful paid news site," he said, "We will be using our profitable experience there and the resulting unique skills throughout News Corporation to increase our revenues from all our content."
Asked how News Corp. will keep readers from simply jumping to free sources of news, he said, "I believe that if we are successful, we will be followed by other media."
Among those considering a pay wall are Cablevision Systems Corp., owner of Long Island, New York's Newsday, Denver Post publisher MediaNews Group and Hearst Corp., which publishes 15 daily newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Tories move to curb 'bogus' refugees
- The Conservative government is poised to change the refugee system yet again in an attempt to deter what it considers "bogus" claimants, CBC News has learned. more »
- Children of immigrants challenged at school, home
- By 2016, foreign-born youth and Canadian-born youth from immigrant families will make up a quarter of the country's population, according to predictions by the Canadian Council on Social Development. As their numbers grow, more attention is being paid to their successes and failures. more »
- 2 NDP MPs back final Commons vote to kill gun registry
- Two NDP MPs broke party ranks to vote with the government in the final House of Commons vote on scrapping the long-gun registry. more »
- B.C. house party trial hears from tearful teens
- Two teenagers cried as they testified at the trial of a B.C. woman who was charged after a teen died while her son was hosting a party at her house in 2008. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Online surveillance bill may breach privacy law, charter
- A new bill that would require telecommunications providers to give police subscriber information without a warrant will likely be challenged in the courts if crucial changes aren't made, critics say. more »
- Canada's air pollution experts moved to 'other priorities'
- Environment Canada has drastically cut back on its monitoring of air pollution that can cause health problems for Canadians, reassigning scientists involved in that monitoring to "other priorities." more »
- Online privacy erosion dismays critics
- Government and law enforcement access to people's electronic communications is the norm in dictatorships around the world, but the same intrusion appears to be creeping into North America, say opponents of a new online surveillance bill tabled in the House Tuesday. more »
- Venus slowdown puzzles planetary scientists
- Scientists have detected a sudden and dramatic slowdown in the rotation of Earth's sister planet Venus. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 14, 2012 9:22 AM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 18: Guitar Hero, or Guitar Zero? Feb. 15, 2012 10:53 AM An NYU professor of psychology describes how he was able to learn to play the guitar in midlife in spite of a limited musical aptitude, and what it tells us about how our brains learn.
Latest Features
- Drummond report on Ontario calls for cutbacks
- Barefoot girl's icy trek not blamed on babysitter
- 2 NDP MPs back final Commons vote to kill gun registry
- Immigrants the proudest Canadians, poll suggests
- Honduras prison fire kills hundreds
- Bodyguard hired for bully victim in Fredericton
- Canadian housing market cools in January
- Legalize pot, say former B.C. attorneys general
- Russians' abusive plane tirade to cost them $19K
