Rupert Murdoch’s got a fight on his hands. The problem with charging for news content is that to make anyone pay, all news providers have to do it. While free news remains readily available, it is unlikely that Joe Bloggs will dig into his pockets just for the experience of seeing his favourite newspaper’s logo at the top of the page.
This is no doubt why Rupert Murdoch has been cosying up to Financial Times CEO John Ridding. United we stand, divided we fall and all that. The pair of them have been talking up a storm about paid news in an attempt to get the whole publishing sector salivating about an additional revenue stream, but will it work?
Here are some of your comments.
From the Twittersphere, smartamatt says: "I’d pay for value. That’s something I can’t get elsewhere for free, so it’s about providing a premium service I can’t do without. So Murdoch’s gonna have to reinvest revenues to produce something more dynamic, immediate and exclusive than free competitors."
Hairy Harry has this to say on the Real Business forum: "Murdoch usually has the Midas touch but there’s no way this idea is going to fly. Free news content will always be available. Even if it means that some blogger out there buys a subscription then pastes all the articles across for the rest of us. You can’t go from fremium to premium. ESPECIALLY not online, where no information is sacred."
Do you think Murdoch is a genius? Or has he lost his touch? Add your comments below.
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