And so, the Murdoch plan for content charging begins to become clear:
As newspapers across the country struggle with declining readership and advertising revenue, News Corp. executives have been meeting in recent weeks with publishers about forming a consortium that would charge for news distributed online and on portable devices -- and potentially stem the rising tide of red ink.So, it's a consortium model. And that's interesting, because it runs the risk of running afoul of cartel legislation, and because it immediatly creates a significant dividing line between the new low cost, free to air business who live and die by links and engagement and the old high cost, paid content businesses, who huddle together behind a paywall designed to protect their traditional business model.
If it succeeds, it will change many of the assumptions about the way that the internet operates. If it fails, it may well be the killing blow for many old media institutions.
I, for one, welcome our new media overlords. If they all go behind the paywall, it leaves the way open for innovative start-ups and news projects to wipe the floor with them.
I'm reminded of all those medieval legends about people bricked up behind walls to die. Never heard of anyone doing it to themselves, though... :-)
I don't read any Murdoch rags. I convinced my parents recently to cancel Sky in favour of Freesat. Glad to see the bastard losing money and trying to stem it by adopting a completely flawed business model. Just sad that journos are going to lose jobs because of News International's nosedive into paywall obscurity, followed by rapid death.