News Corp announces big profits and plans for pay walls
Posted by Trafton Kenney on February 3, 2010 at 12:06 PM
As News Corp announced profits of $254 million over the three months up to December, Rupert Murdoch said his company is close to implementing online subscription models for all of its newspapers like the Times, the News of the World, and the Sun. The company is also in "advanced negotiations" with handheld-device manufacturers about possible paywalls that would allow customers access to News Corp content "whenever and wherever they want it," said Murdoch.
According to Murdoch, "ingenious and fabulous devices" like the iPad and the Kindle "would be unloved and unsold" without the creative content supplied by newspapers. "Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital. We're on the cusp of a digital revolution from which our shareholders will profit handsomely," said Murdoch.
Murdoch also dismissed Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger's argument that
pay walls around newspaper websites would lead to the industry
"sleepwalking into oblivion." "I think that sounds like BS to me," said
Murdoch.
While the bulk of News Corp's profits comes from its FOX television network and Twentieth Century Fox film studio, the company's newspapers made up a 29% increase this year.
The Wall Street Journal, also owned by News Corp, was among the first newspapers to implement a pay wall and increased its circulation last year during a strong showing. Murdoch also reserved special praise for the Sun, saying it had "left other papers far, far behind in the contest for readers" with its record advertising revenue over the past weeks.
Murdoch announced last August that all News Corp newspapers would charge for online content by June 2010, before postponing the date indefinitely.
Sources: The Guardian
While the bulk of News Corp's profits comes from its FOX television network and Twentieth Century Fox film studio, the company's newspapers made up a 29% increase this year.
The Wall Street Journal, also owned by News Corp, was among the first newspapers to implement a pay wall and increased its circulation last year during a strong showing. Murdoch also reserved special praise for the Sun, saying it had "left other papers far, far behind in the contest for readers" with its record advertising revenue over the past weeks.
Murdoch announced last August that all News Corp newspapers would charge for online content by June 2010, before postponing the date indefinitely.
Sources: The Guardian
Related Entries
- PEJ: News readers use 5 sites or less
- News Corp exec: other revenue streams can coexist with paywall
- CNN more concerned with competition from Facebook than rival FOX News
- Google offers advice: newspapers need to "engage" online readers
- Survey finds most big magazine websites profitable
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: News Corp announces big profits and plans for pay walls.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.editorsweblog.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/20509
![Digg](http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.editorsweblog.org%2Fnewsrooms_and_journalism%2F2010%2F02%2Fnews_corp_closer_to_charging_for_online.php&bodytext=<form mt:asset-id="3909" class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;" contenteditable="false"><a href="http://www.editorsweblog.org/murdoch.jpg"><img alt="murdoch.jpg" src="http://www.editorsweblog.org/assets_c/2009/10/murdoch-thumb-200x249-3909.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt; float: left;" height="249" width="200" /></a></form>As <b>News Corp</b> announced profits of $254 million over the three months up to December, <b>Rupert Murdoch</b> said his company is <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/feb/03/murdoch-news-corp-increases-profit">close to implementing online subscription models for all of its newspapers</a> like the <i>Times</i>, the <i>News of the World</i>, and the <i>Sun</i>. <br /><br />The company is also in "advanced negotiations" with handheld-device manufacturers about possible paywalls that would allow customers access to News Corp content "whenever and wherever they want it," said Murdoch.<br /><br />According to Murdoch, "ingenious and fabulous devices" like the <b>iPad</b> and the <b>Kindle</b> "would be unloved and unsold" without the creative content supplied by newspapers. "Content is not just king, it is the emperor of all things digital. We're on the cusp of a digital revolution from which our shareholders will profit handsomely," said Murdoch.<br /><br /><br /> &title=<b>News Corp</b> announces big profits and plans for pay walls){kind=link}
Leave a comment