News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch said he’ll soon announce in three to four weeks the company’s plans to charge for its online content. At a press conference following the release of the company’s quarterly report, Murdoch said News Corp is in final discussions with a number of publishers, device makers and technology companies. Murdoch said the company is developing “an innovative subscription model for delivering digital content to consumers wherever and whenever they want it.
Separately he said on the Fox Business News channels that he had talked to Apple about making TV shows (Fox Network) and movies (20th Century Fox) available on iTunes. He said the iPhone and iPad aren’t the only attractive media players.
Murdoch said that the pay-to-view model would also include access to
television shows and films via video-on-demand. News Corp owns such papers as The Wall Street Journal, London’s The Times and The Sun, the New York Post and The Australian.
There are already one million paying subscribers to The Wall Street Journal, making it the largest online subscription news site. Unlike other print publications, The Wall Street Journal is growing in subscribers as is its advertising revenue (up 11% for the quarter).
“These new digital devices are entirely dependent on the flow of high quality content, the business we are in,” he said. There has never been a bigger demand for news, he said. Murdoch’s track record with Internet ventures is not perfect. The company’s social networking service MySpace continues to lose money. He said News Corp had made mistakes at MySpace since its acquisition “but we’ve got fine new management now.” He said the company is counting on music to save the day and that MySpace is the “leading music site.”