Rupert Murdoch's new approach to internet content

The Guardian is reporting that Rupert Murdoch is planning on implementing a pay-per-view system for a number of online media outlets in the near future. If I recall correctly, the new editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail also suggested that he might implement a similar scheme. While I know that the Wall Street Journal already charges for content, I really wonder how many of these more standard news sources will have success with the model. I know that when I think about my own news consumption patterns I don't imagine that I will have much interest in paying for online news content. I wonder if those who have already left their newspaper subscriptions behind will have even less interest in paying for such services?

I guess if one is interested in a particular columnist or reporter than they might consider paying for access, but if one just wants to know what is going on in the world in a more general sense I can't imagine that such information won't continue to be available for free from competing sources. In particular, publicly funded news providers such as the BBC, ABC, or CBC (or NPR) will likely provide information on the major stories that would be covered by the pay-per-view services.

I see this hurdle as particularly problematic in a world with news aggregators such as Google News. One will easily be able to search for a particular story and then chose a source that provides free access to coverage of the story. I know that when I am looking for older stories that are frequently found in some sources pay-per-view archives I just go to free sources or lose interest. I am not yet at a stage where I am willing to pay $3.00 for a newspaper article, even if that is what it costs the company to host and provide access to it.

I guess my thinking that you would want to encourage as many visitors to your site as possible to increase ad revenue doesn't seem to be the approach that a number of these media outlets have had much success with. On the other hand, I really can't see how shutting your service and brand off from a good section of the market is a good idea either. If much of the world isn't familiar with some of these brands why would they consider buying their articles? On the other hand, when such content is free they may be more than willing to check the media outlet out and give it a shot, who knows, they may even become regular users or subscribers to the print version.

Anyway, they aren't my media outlets so I guess I don't get to make the decisions about how they are run. Fortunately, as I do have a pretty big stake in Montifax I get to make a few more of the big decisions, and so far I have been able to make sure that we continue to be a free service, accessible to all (or at least those with an internet connection).